Celebrating our nurses
DARLING Downs Health nurses and midwives are taking part in a global year-long celebration, after the World Health Organisation designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
This year was declared by the World Health Organisation as the official Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to coincide with the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, who established the principals of modern nursing and hospital sanitation.
Darling Downs Health executive director of nursing and midwifery services, Andrea Nagle, said taking part in the celebration was a great opportunity for everyone to learn how much nurses and midwives did within a health service, and how much more they could do with support.
“Nurses and midwives make up the largest part of our workforce, and they are with our patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Ms Nagle said.
“Nurses and midwives are there to welcome new life into the world, they provide care to people through all stages of life, right through to end-of-life care, so I think it’s fair to say they are the backbone of our health service.
“This is the first time something like this has been done across Darling Downs Health, and we are really excited to see what we can achieve in these 12 months.
“We will be raising the profile and status of nursing and midwifery through social media and events, and acknowledging how these roles improve health outcomes across our service.
“Our theme for the year is ‘Nurses and midwives: a voice to lead; nursing the world to health.
“To kickstart and launch the celebrations, we held breakfast barbecues at Toowoomba, Kingaroy, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Texas and Dalby Hospital.”