I trust nurses. Doctors? Sure, they’re fine, they diagnose and treat. But nurses do the hardest work – the care work – without the accolades or the pay that doctors receive.
My mother was a nurse and worked in pretty much every aspect of the profession: clinical, administrative, academic. Being raised by a nurse had its upsides and downsides. Faking an illness to get out of going to school was basically impossible. But every scrape, bump, bruise and cold was cared for not just with a mother’s love, but a nurse’s expertise and efficiency. I learned that no matter how sharp the pain or terrifying the injury, I was going to be fine (and probably needed to calm down). I learned to trust nurses by trusting the person who cared most for me.
Over the course of her career, my mother developed an interest in the ethics of nursing and received two post-graduate degrees. She cared deeply about her fellow nurses and the challenges they faced in the workplace. While those challenges have always been difficult, nurses have been tested by the pandemic in inhumane ways. We’ve all heard the stories about the nurses bearing witness to the end of so many lives, holding a phone or tablet in front of a dying COVID patient so they can see and hear their loved ones who aren’t allowed in the ICU. We’ve heard about nurses having to make horrifying choices about who receives care in the form of ventilators; the disproportionate number of nurses who’ve contracted COVID, and the nurses who’ve suffered punishing working conditions from too-long hours, to staffing shortages, to lack of personal protective equipment.
My love for my mother and her fellow care providers makes me even more excited about Healwell’s Healing for Healers Campaign. May is National Nurses Month, and Healwell is supporting nurses by providing healing massage to ICU and other frontline care workers. Take a look at the campaign by clicking here, and help show love to those who care.