Nurses Week 2025 is almost here, and time sure does fly! It seems like it was just yesterday, but it was actually 5/7/22, when I shouted “happy Nurses Day” at the Damn Emperor’s motorcade from the sidewalk because His Excellency could hear me while riding shotgun and stuck at a stop sign during Goffstown Old Home Day. I could have almost touched his side view mirror, but not NURSE Terese because she still had bail conditions from her arrest on 10/13/21. I did not become a regular contributor of Grok content until almost 2 years later, so last year was my first Nurses Week in that position, and my first article on it was submitted.
The idea to write about nurses last year came from dinner at the 110 Grill with Nurse Michele after she finished a one-day agency gig as a school nurse where I used to vote, Charlotte school. I haven’t so much as thought about Nurses Week since May of last year, but some things just happen to have an uncanny way of repeating themselves, though their significance might be in the eye of the beholder.
Nurse Michele called a little while ago to discuss a variety of things, but the 90-minute talk opened with troublesome patterns and trends she has recognized over the decades, both as an ordinary nurse and as a school nurse. Our talk covered a multitude of topics, including but not limited to the role of the school nurse, parental responsibility, the varying expectations of the school’s responsibility, RFK and MAHA, and the history of nursing. We talked about nursing degrees and nursing schools; then and now. I knew her title was RN(as opposed to LPN), but didn’t know if her degree was BSN of if she was a diploma nurse. She’s the latter and we talked about bureaucracy, administrations, careers and the Ivory Tower. Then came the light bulb over my head.
Because Grok management welcomes guest submissions and encourages new original content to mix into the rotation, I made the following suggestion to Michele. I pointed out that Nurses Week is coming soon, and she could format all the professional and personal passion she just shared into an article. I suggested an article on the history of nursing, where she thinks the institution is heading, and a conclusion of suggested course corrections. I even pointed out that she could even specialize in what she’s most passionate about, like serving others, taking care of one’s health (or that of kids), and finish with a wish list of what she would like to see happen. I said I could write another Nurses Week article, but I would be recycling a lot of previous content and making a few adjustments(people on the naughty/nice lists), but it really ought to be written by a nurse. A real nurse could enhance such an article and take it to levels that a regular person like me just can’t do.
Nurse Michele liked the idea, but gracefully indicated that now is not a good time due to “a bunch of stuff going on,” to put it vaguely enough to respect her privacy. Would another nurse like to write something for Nurses Week? If you know one that doesn’t have red hair and won’t lament about barely having enough time to put the dishes away and turn the laundry around, consider asking that nurse.
