Over 100 YorkU Nursing students thank front line nurses for their dedication to world health in the fight against COVID-19.
I am writing this letter to you. I don’t know anything about you, but one thing-you are a nurse, and this tells me a lot. I admire you. As a nursing student, I already know how much effort, strength, patience, and love to the people it takes to become a nurse. But I can only imagine how much harder it is to be a nurse, especially in days like these. No one can really understand how it is to be there, how to leave your family and home to save others on the front line… They just know it is difficult and that they themselves do not want to be there. Only you know how emotionally and physically painful this battle is. No one prepared you for this…but you are strong, adaptable, clever and emotionally intelligent and that is what makes me want to be like you. To see everything that is happening today, I realize that one becomes a nurse because of the love for one’s parents, siblings, significant other, precious children and the love for humanity.
You are a hero in the eyes of a nation, a true leader. Leadership is not about being able to motivate others but about putting people first, being there when no one else is, and being empathetic. Leadership is about educating others to become successful or speaking through today’s prism- to survive. When time stops, businesses shut down, you show up to work and keep this world running, giving all of us hope. Maybe saying “I admire you and I hope one day I will be like you” sounds distant and not significant at this time. But I want you to know that you are the most powerful person to your children and your family, and the greatest role model to the future generation.
It is not only the people in the hospital that you care for but the entire world. Nursing has no boundaries- you show up to work and save lives, you supress the panic that spreads rapidly, you respond to misinformation that is shared among groups, you educate your family and community, you speak up to protect yourself and colleagues. This is being in the front line for the entire world. And as a nursing student I want to thank you for everything you do and to tell you that I feel you, I think of you, and I think of your family. I am sorry I am not yet there with you, but I thank you for teaching me how much self-sacrificing it takes to be a nurse.
Take Care and Keep Safe,
O.G., – York University Nursing Student