I was 17 in the late Summer of 1972, and I wanted to marry a nurse. I met her when she woke me up from my hospital bed at 3 AM in the morning. She was checking in on me after a bad concussion (suffered at football practice) placed me in the hospital for three days. I never saw her again. It was my first encounter with a nurse.
Nurses have an indispensable function in our healthcare system.
I have a lot of respect for nurses. And, until recently, they had a superpower at their disposal that was equally indispensable to their trade. No doubt, my first nurse used her superpower that first night. But almost from the beginning of the COVID pandemic, they have lost the use of one of their superpowers.
“Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.”
—Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat“America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.”
—Barack Obama“Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the job, every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs.’”
—Christine Belle“I’m a nurse. What’s your superpower?”
—Unknown“I’m a nurse because ‘miracle worker’ isn’t an official title.”
—Unknown
Covid protocols deprived nurses of one of their superpowers, their smile. How many nurses have breathed life into the heart of an anxious mother, a fearful father, a terrified child, a hope-needing cancer patient, or a worried heart patient? Think of hospitals on the Island of Maui in Hawaii right now. How much would a smile from a caring nurse mean to an injured child from the fires there? Think of Ukraine and a war-patient coming into a hospital from the Russian terrorist action of Putin. Would a smiling nurse make a difference to one of the worst days of in their lives? Think of hospitals around the world, whose nursing staff labor to skillfully bring their medical training to bear for their patients with a smile that pumps positivity into a negative situation that helps to banish or at least reign in the fears of a troubled heart.
Covid put those smiles behind masks. I hope it never happens again. So will you if you have to go to the hospital.
Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
And those who are staggering to the slaughter,
Oh hold them back!
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