CELEBRATE! May 6-12, 2004 "Your Voice, Your Health, Your Life"

A Message from ANA President Barbara Blakeney

Greetings! As we celebrate National Nurses Week 2004 (NNW), May 6-12, ANA and its constituent member associations (CMAs) are saluting nurses across the country with the theme Nurses: Your Voice, Your Health, Your Life. This theme reminds us all just how important nurses are to patients, families and society in general as take-charge providers and advocates, who are helping guide individuals to healthier, more productive lives - through compassionate, quality nursing care.

But more important, this theme allows all of us - and the nursing community especially - to pause and reflect on the contributions of its members.

As the nation prepares to celebrate NNW this year, we are reminded of how essential nurses have been throughout history. Of course, nurses have always answered the call to service during times of need and crisis, in times of war, epidemics and natural disasters. But today, our new reality is shaped by the ongoing strife in Iraq, continuing terror alerts and acts of terrorism throughout the world, massive reorientation of our health care system toward bioterrorism preparedness and the mounting challenges of AIDS, SARS and other deadly illnesses. And this new reality reinforces for all of us the valuable role that nurses continue to play in our society and the ongoing need for quality nursing care for our patients.

As you well know, nurses truly are the quality difference in health care. And that is why it is important to take time to celebrate our achievements and to recognize those who stand with us, in times of joy and times of trial.

But giving thanks, recognition and acknowledgement is only part of the reason we celebrate National Nurses Week every year from May 6 - May 12. Another equally important reason is to remind the public of nursing's contributions to the health and well-being of the nation. So, as you celebrate National Nurses Week this year - beginning with National Nurses Day on May 6 and commencing with International Nurses Day (also Florence Nightingale's birthday) on May 12 - I hope you will also take a few moments to inform the public of the challenges that also face nursing today - challenges such as the nation's growing nursing shortage, and the mounting crises of insufficient staffing and inadequate funding for nursing education.

In addition to the issues facing nursing, there are many challenges faced by the health care system as a whole, such as the growing ranks of the uninsured. Since 2000, ANA has been an active partner in the Cover the Uninsured campaign, and we hope you will also become involved. As you may know, this year's "Cover the Uninsured Week" has been moved to May 10-16, and now overlaps with NNW - in part to draw attention to the overlap between nursing, patient care and insurance issues. Events are being held across the nation so that more Americans can learn about this critical problem, including who is affected, why they are uninsured, the consequences of being uninsured - and how this issue overburdens the health care system in general and affects every American. We hope that you will participate in and promote the many "Cover the Uninsured Week" activities being planned in your community and across the nation. (For details, see www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/ctu.htm.)

Of course, the issues affecting nursing and health care today are crucial issues that affect us all - and issues that won't be adequately resolved without public discourse and debate and action on the part of Congress and the administration. That is why, as we celebrate National Nurses Week, ANA and the CMAs will also be reaffirming their advocacy on behalf of nurses, the profession and health care consumers, and why the association will be redoubling its efforts to gain greater support on issues that affect nurses and their patients, particularly on Capitol Hill.

But we can't do it alone. We need your voice - and our combined strength in numbers - to carry forth our message in community meetings, in state legislative forums and in the halls of Congress. But we also know that we can count on you to help us keep nursing and nurses' issues in the forefront of the nation's agenda on health care - not just during NNW but throughout the year.

And ANA thanks you for your efforts, your perseverance and your many successes, particularly at the state level.

In the meantime, I hope you will join ANA in taking this special week to reflect on how you make a difference every day, to remind others just how rewarding nursing can be, and to encourage our young people to also enter into the challenging, fulfilling and rewarding profession of nursing. And I hope you will take some time to scroll through the NNW section on this site, including the NNW greeting from President Bush, as well as take advantage of such benefits as free CE and discounted books from ww.nursesbooks.org.

As is noted in the Florence Nightingale pledge, as a registered nurse, "I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession…And "with loyalty will I endeavor to…devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care." And I know my fellow nurses will do the same. Thank you and have a wonderful National Nurses Week!

Sincerely,

Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP
President, American Nurses Association

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