Nurses should have greater recognition

I went along to pathology at Cobram hospital last week for a series of blood tests and while having a chat with a very efficient nurse, I asked her whether things had quietened down. She looked at me and said “not really” and nothing further was said.

This had me thinking and I realised that while life appears to be gaining some normality, however slightly, for our nursing fraternity and medical practitioners, life continues with little or no change from the enormous difficulties of the past two years.

It was when I noticed an article on change.org entitled ‘Recognition for nurses’ that it really had me thinking.

The website is the world’s leading platform to enact change in society and brings to people’s attention issues that are considered in need of change.

As a society, we so often take our nurses for granted and yet could we manage without them, their dedication, their skills, their compassion? I think not!

My first experience with nurses was when I was expecting my first child at St George’s Hospital in Kew. What would I have done as a young married without those brilliant nurses and their wonderful care and attention. I knew nothing about having a baby, absolutely nothing! Didn’t babies come from under a cabbage? (Ha ha).

Enter the gorgeous, caring, well-trained nurses at the hospital who took me in hand and I gratefully walked out of there one week later, a fairly confident mother of a beautiful baby son.

I will never forget the nursing staff for their gentle reassurance and how they radiated a confidence that helped relax myself and all the patients. One would expect most of us have a story of our experience with a nurse, of their professional care and compassion. If you have had reason to attend an emergency department in a hospital, it is the nurse who quells the fears of young children and monitors, comforts and supports the patient until a doctor is available for diagnosis and treatment.

One cannot begin to imagine what the past two years have been like for our nurses, both men and women, putting their lives on the line to care for thousands of patients with COVID-19 while also dealing with patients undergoing other emergency health issues.

Nurses are without a doubt our unsung heroes, often working double shifts when patient/staff ratios have been out of control and being put under pressure when many of their workmates were struck down with COVID-19.

That brings me to the reason for this article: we have a system of honours and awards to recognise, celebrate and say thank you to those who make a difference to the lives of others in our communities. Paramedics, ambulance officers, correctional services, SES, firefighters and police officers and individuals from voluntary organisations such as lifesaving and rescue groups are all deservedly presented with long service medals throughout the country for their long-term efforts.

Then perhaps the question needs to be asked, why aren’t our nurses recognised and included?