I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our AGNA members a Happy Nurses Week. This year is especially worth recognizing for a few reasons. We are celebrating 100 years of nursing in Alberta, and many of us will have the opportunity to see a bit of our history through CARNAs interactive display as it travels the province in the coming months. (see the link below) As well, AGNA is celebrating our 35th anniversary as a specialty practice group, and we will be sharing moments from our history on our website in the coming months. As we look to the future, it’s important to be grounded in a successful past.
This year’s Nurses Week is also unique as we have all watched as the fire ravaged Fort McMurray. So many people have been displaced in the most heart wrenching of circumstances. The evacuation of the Northern Lights Regional Hospital, including Long Term Care, was truly amazing. Nurses, alongside other health care providers were at the center of this remarkable accomplishment, caring for their patients often without knowing the situation of their own families and homes. In the days that have followed, nurses from Fort McMurray have helped their patients resettle and connect with the care they need while displaced from their own homes. Nurses from communities across the province have stepped forward to accommodate new patients, help people transition to new settings, work in evacuation centers and respond with compassion to people in crisis. I have been absolutely humbled by the skill, caring and dedication I have witnessed in my nursing colleagues across the province this past week, and like many of you, I am immensely proud of my profession at this moment.
And to our AGNA members in Fort McMurray and their colleagues, you are in our hearts and minds now and in the days ahead as Fort McMurray begins its recovery.
Regards
Terri Woytkiw, RN, MN, CHPCN(c), GNC(c)
AGNA President
http://carna100.ca/highlight/historical-display/