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Ways to Celebrate National Nurses Week 2024

Alexa Salva

Nurses are our real-life heroes, and they deserve to be celebrated now more than ever. National Nurses Week is celebrated every year starting on May 6th and ending on May 12th, which is Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Florence Nightingale was a British nurse, social reformer, and statistician known as being the founder of modern nursing. Her practice, knowledge, and efforts to reform healthcare continued to influence the quality of care well into the 19th and 20th centuries. With national nurses week coming quickly, I curated a list of different ways to recognize any and all nurses in your life. Whether it’s through sincere notes, social media, festive décor, gifts or edible goodies, taking the time to celebrate nurses through creative expressions of appreciation boosts morale and brightens their day. Nursing jobs are no joke, so take the time out of your day to recognize nurses, even if it’s just as simple as saying thank you.

Ways to celebrate nurses as an employer:

Gifts don’t always need to be monetary, a simple thank you can go a long way. Writing a heartfelt thank you card is a simple yet meaningful gesture. Taking the time to handwrite a note expressing gratitude is a personal way to let nurses know that they are valued.

There is an estimated 5.17 billion total social media users in the world in 2024. Create or share a post showing appreciation to nurses and tag the nurses that work for your facility. You can also spotlight individual nurses throughout the week. Posting on social media is just another avenue to showcase appreciation; creating or sharing a post about the amazing nurses you employ and tagging them spreads positivity and praise on a wide scale.

A fun way to show appreciation is to transform spaces with decorations. Beyond words, transforming the nurses’ common areas with fun decorations is a visible way to remind them they are supported. Stringing up nursing-themed banners, putting up artwork and inspirational quotes, or filling the space with balloons are festive pick-me-ups. There are plenty of nursing décor options to choose from online. This is a nice visual way to remind them how appreciated they are.

Delivering flowers or treats is a sweet surprise and shows that you notice their hard work. You can never go wrong with sweet treats or a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Flowers have a way of automatically putting a smile on everyone’s face.

Food is always a great way to get to someone’s heart. There’s no better surprise than coming to work knowing you’re going to have to go buy your meal and then you walk in to a surprised catered meal! Energy comes with a full stomach, so it’s a win for everyone.

Ways to celebrate nurses as a friend or family member:

Celebrating and showing appreciation for the nurses in our lives is incredibly important, as nursing is an immensely difficult and stressful profession. There are many thoughtful ways we can honor the nurses we love.

One great idea is to give them a gift or gift basket tailored to help them relax and recharge. Nursing is stressful, consider giving the nurse in your life a gift of relaxation such as a massage gift card, spa packages, plush robes, candles, essential oils, and other pampering items. These gifts are perfect for helping nurses unwind after long, hectic shifts.  Nothing is more rewarding to a nurse than a day of relaxing. You could also gift them useful items like insulated tumblers to keep drinks hot or cold during their shift, new high-quality scrubs or shoes to keep them comfortable on their feet. These are gifts that Nurses will appreciate and use often.

Just as I mentioned before, food is the way to a nurses heart! Treat your loved one to a great quality meal and night out. Taking your nurse out for a delicious meal at their favorite restaurant is a wonderful gesture. Treating them to a night where they don’t have to cook or clean up after dinner shows you appreciate their hard work and want to cater to them. Order or make their preferred foods and drinks and let them sit back and fully enjoy. If going out is not possible, you could always bring their favorite takeout meal and dessert to them or cook their favorite meal.

Lightening the load of chores or tasks for a nurse after work demonstrates thoughtfulness. Taking something off their plate can be something as simple as doing the dishes, taking their car to the carwash, or doing some laundry. Coming home to a clean house or having a smaller chores list means the world. Nurses expend so much energy caring for others that having someone provide practical help at home to give them more rest is an incredibly caring gift.

Ways to celebrate yourself if you’re a nurse:

I know it can be hard to completely unwind on your day off when it feels like you have a million things to do. However, you deserve a true day off to settle down and recoup! Those long 12-hour shifts take a toll and the best way to beat a burn out is to allow yourself time to relax on your day off. Take the day to sleep in, watch some shows or whatever it is that’ll help you relax.

If you have nice weather on your day off, go spend some time in the sun. Your long work days are spent mostly indoors and it’s not often you get to relax in fresh air. Getting some sun and Vitamin D reduces inflammation and modulates cell growth. A few minutes outside can also improve your mood and quality of sleep by increasing your serotonin from soaking up the sun.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to show your appreciation and gratitude towards nurses. Recognize the hard work nurses do by sending them thoughtful messages, useful gifts, delicious meals or lending a hand in any way to help lighten the load. Showing appreciation doesn’t have to be through monetary gifts, a simple “Thank You” goes a long way. Although National Nurses Week is only one week long, nurses deserve to be recognized all day, everyday, year round.

Do you know of any other discounts not listed above? Leave it below in the comments!

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