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Nurses Day Facts

Nurses Day Facts
In the United States National Nurses Day is celebrated on May 6th each year. The day is meant to honor the important role that nurses play in the United States. National Nurses Day marks the beginning of National Nurses Week. National Nurses Week ends on May12th, the birthday of the most famous nurse in history - Florence Nightingale. International Nurses Day falls on Florence Nightingale's birthday each year. Dorothy Sutherland was one of the first to propose a day to honor nurses in 1953, but it wasn't until Richard Nixon made a proclamation in 1974 that Nurses Week was established. The U.S. Congress passed a formal resolution in 1982 setting May 6th as the official Nurses Day in the United States.
Interesting Nurses Day Facts:
Florence Nightingale is considered by many to be the founder of the nursing profession. She founded the first secular nursing school.
The first hospital training school for nurses was established in Kaiserwerth, Germany in 1846, called the Institute for Protestant Deaconesses.
Florence Nightingale often made rounds at night carrying a lamp for light. She became known as 'The Lady with the Lamp'. She was instrumental in nursing care during the Crimean War and pushed for more sanitary hospital practices.
Although Nurses Day is officially observed in the United States it is not a public holiday.
Dorothy Sutherland, who proposed Nurses Day to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare at the time. Eisenhower didn't sign the proclamation. It wasn't until 1974 that President Nixon made an official proclamation for Nurses Week.
The first Hallmark greeting card for nurses debuted in 1992.
In the First World War the British Red Cross employed almost 6,000 nurses. Approximately 5,000 of these nurses worked in hospitals in the United Kingdom. They were paid $60 per year, which would be equal to $2600 per year today.
In the United States there are approximately 2.7 registered nurses today. There are also 752,300 licensed vocational nurses and licensed practical nurses. There are approximately 900,000 home health aides and 1.5 million nursing aides and attendants.
Nurses Day and Nurses Week are observed in the United States with receptions and various celebrations across the country. Some states and cities make official proclamations.
Nurses Day activities can include nursing seminars, as well as banquets and dinners in honor of nurses.
On Nurses Day it is common for friends and family of nurses to present them with gifts including flowers, greetings cards, gift certificates, and lunches and dinners.
On Nurses Day patients will sometimes give their nurses a gift as a way to say 'thank you' for their work.
The first person to earn a nursing diploma in the United States was Linda Richards, in 1873.
The first school for nursing in the United States was established in 1862. It was called the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
The very first nursing school in history was located in India, in 250 BC.
The first nurse in the New World, in the early 1600s, was Juan de Mena, a shipwreck survivor.


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