Spring has finally arrived, and that means it’s almost time to, once again, celebrate National Nurses Week, May 6th – 12th 2015. The Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses will join with nursing organizations across the nation and around the world to recognize and raise awareness of the contributions that nursing and nurses make to their communities. In addition to the week honoring nurses of all types and specialties, National Student Nurse Day is celebrated on May 8th, and National School Nurse Day, annually held on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week, will fall on May 6th this year also.
National Nurses Week (NNW) traces its origins back to 1953, when Dorothy Sutherland with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare unsuccessfully petitioned President Dwight Eisenhower to proclaim a Nurse’s Day. In 1954, a National Nurse Week was unofficially observed by nursing organizations from October 11th – 16th. A bill to recognize it officially was introduced in Congress that year, but no action was taken. Then in 1974, President Nixon issued a proclamation setting aside one week in the year as NNW. Finally, in 1991, after a long and convoluted history, the American Nurses Association designated May 6th – 12th as the official week.