Celebrate Nurses!

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Show your appreciation for the important work nurses do with a gift from Crestline’s healthcare specialty store! There’s even a page of items especially for nurses.

Here are some other ideas for celebrating nurses this week, courtesy of the American Nurses Association:

• Hold a special celebration or reception to recognize a nurse or several nurses in your community. These nurses could be honored for heroic acts, years of service to the community, exemplary courage, or their commitment to the nursing profession over the years.

• Sponsor a community-wide event, such as a coloring contest or poem-writing contest for school children. The children could acknowledge their favorite nurse, a famous nurse, or family member who is a nurse - past or present - in a colorful drawing. The drawings could be displayed in local schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

• Work cooperatively with hospitals, schools, and libraries to set up a special display for National Nurses Week using promotional materials, such as t-shirts, key rings, mugs, buttons, etc.

• Host a fund-raiser, such as a walk-a-thon, and donate the money to a local charity. Emphasize the importance of registered nurses in our nation's health care system; pay tribute to a local nurse; or recognize all registered nurses who are indispensable and provide care selflessly 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

• Suggest that your state or local newspaper solicit stories from readers who would like to pay tribute to a nurse who provided exemplary care.

Click here for more great ideas.