One day before the much anticipated International Nurses' Day, all the wards of Armed Forces Hospital-King Abdulaziz Airbase were all busy beautifying their wards in preparation for the event.
But why make a fuss over a one-day celebration? It's because nurses are the frontliners of any hospitals. Imagine a hospital without nurses. Imagine the doctors carrying out all of their orders. Imagine a patient taking a high-alert medication without his vital signs taken by a nurse and without anyone monitoring him. Imagine a ward where the patients do the routine ward care theirselves. Imagine an ICU unit where the ones suctioning a patient's tracheostomy tube is the patient's watcher. These are just few of the worst thing that could happen without nurses. That is why we are very honored that the hospital we're working sees the importance of us, the nurses.
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| The 2012 International Nurses' Day Theme... Deep, huh? :) |
International Nurses' Day is celebrated all over the world every 12th of May annually in remembering the birth of Florence Nightingale, the lady behind the foundation of professional nursing. (Thanks to your birth mommy Florence.."wink")
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| Tadaaah! Our ward's "finished product". |
And on the actual day of the celebration, coincidence of all coincidence, it's my off duty! For almost three years that I have been a nurse, not to mention the four years of preparing myself on the humble but rewarding work as a nurse, it's my first time to be celebrating Nurses' Day, and it happens outside my own country! So when they asked me if I'm going to attend I did not blink an eye when I answered "yes". And I'm not disappointed. Although only five of us from our ward who attended, I still cannot forget the faces of my colleagues during the entire celebration, starting from the program at the main hospital auditorium up to the feast at the recreation center.
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| The VIP Link where the names of the nursing staff per ward/department is displayed. |
According to my colleagues, during the years preceded by this year's nurses' day, they are giving awards to the most beautifully-decorated ward. And it is evidenced by the certificates displayed on our bulletin board. But this year's celebration, for some unknown reasons, they stopped the competition. Cost-cutting, I think? :) But instead of the Ward Decoration Competition, they started the Nurse of the Month, which our acting head nurse strongly disagrees with. According to her, it would just create a fuss among the nurses because all nurses under her management are the best nurses. And it means I'm one of the best! haha! Well, she has a point. If one is awarded as the best nurse, then the other nurses not selected will be looking for mistakes against her/him. Accept it. We have that habit. So, while the other wards are nominating all the qualified staff, our ward is just silent about it.
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| The Nurse of the Month, from the Accident and Emergency Department |
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| Our Program Director as he honors all the nurses employed in our hospitals. Thank you, sir! |
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| The Director of Nursing--Mam Heeba |
One thing I have noticed during the program at the main auditorium is the opening remarks. I thought when the emcee told us to listen to the opening remarks of one of the staff, we would be hearing like the welcome speeches delivered during programs in the Philippines. To my surprise, and I think, even to my colleagues', he delivered Islam's prayer!
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The best part of the program for me: Nightingale's Pledge!
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| You think that's real candle? That's battery operated! :) |
There were also raffles and games for the nurses. From our ward, only chechi Mebi got the chance to play, and she won a brand new camera. Prizes at stake of the raffle and games include ipod, wrist watches, DVD player, cellphones, and other gadgets.
After the program, all were invited at the feast at Recreation Center. It's maybe two hundred meters away from the main hospital so we have to walk under the hot sun. Nonetheless, the foods were awesome. Here are the photos I've taken of some of the foods:
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