Over 100 YorkU Nursing students thank front line nurses for their dedication to world health in the fight against COVID-19.
I view nursing as the most admirable profession out there, as a nursing student myself I aspire to be as selfless and caring as the nurses that I hear about amidst this pandemic. I feel myself being drawn more to nursing as I hear about the way that nurses are treating my loved ones and strangers. I can only imagine the strength that it must take to be strong when many others can be weak and scared. I chose to study nursing because I have been inspired in the past by a nurse and yet again, I feel that inspiration from all of you that are putting your best foot forward and thinking of us, the general public as your patient. Just know, even though you might feel alone in this, you are not, nursing students are looking up at you admiring the strength that you have and hoping to be just like you one day. So, when you are tired and feel alone, just know, we are here, we have your back, we respect the work, the effort, and the sacrifice that you make daily. We notice you constantly take courage above fear, and we thank you for that.
Leadership is so essential in nursing, or so they tell us in our studies, but seeing this being demonstrated in your daily practice, and now with a pandemic on the horizon it is evident that not only is it important, it is essential. We see you making the steps necessary to screen patients and put your own health at risk just to keep the general public safe. You serve as an example to future nurses and allow us to see why leadership is important in nursing. We see you using all the experience that you have built over your career and using that to take the impact of this pandemic upon yourselves to lessen the impact on the public. We see you making difficult decisions and being overworked, but realizing if not you then who? Seeing this unfold and seeing how you have stepped up to do more than your already heavy load is inspiring to me. I can see how much you care and how much you value the promise you make to the public to always do your best and remain a leader for us so we have someone to go to and trust in difficult times such as these.
A huge focus in nursing in the last years is the concept of client-centred care, this model remains so relevant within the pandemic. The whole country has just become your patient, we see you treating some, screening others, and reminding the rest of us to take preventative measures to lessen the burden on you. We thank you for bridging the gap between other health care providers and patients, to advocate for us and to keep everyone informed. We recognize that you must remain on the front line where you can directly make an impact in communication and transparency to lessen the stress upon us. We see all of this and we appreciate how seriously you take the nursing profession, and all of our health.
With much gratitude and admiration, I thank you.
J.N., York University Nursing student