"Nurses Care for America" is this year's theme for National Nurses Week

Friday, May 03, 2002

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 3, 2002 — Our nation's healthcare system relies heavily on the professionalism, dedication and caring of nurses all across the country. The nursing staff at Mayo Clinic Hospital is joining the American Nurses Association in celebrating National Nurses Week, which begins May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. "Nurses Care for America" is the theme for this year's nationwide week of recognition.

This year, to give a gift back to their community, Mayo Clinic Hospital's nursing staff is organizing a food drive to benefit the United Food Bank and Westside Food Bank. All Mayo Clinic sites are participating in the Food Drive including Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Mayo Clinic Hospital, Mayo Fountain Hills Family Medicine, Mayo Thunderbird Family Medicine, Mayo Women's Health-Internal Medicine, Mayo Community Internal Medicine-Phoenix, and Mayo Arrowhead Family Medicine.

"National Nurses Week is a time to honor our nurses who provide care to our patients, educate our staff, establish policy for consistent nursing practice, and conduct nursing research," said Debra Pendergast, RN, Associate Administrator and Nurse Executive at Mayo Clinic Hospital. "Too often in the hectic day to day life of a healthcare organization, we forget to recognize the heroic efforts of our nurses to meet the needs of our complex and diverse patient population. Nurses week is an opportunity for us to say 'thank you'."

In honor of the dedication, commitment, and tireless effort of the nearly 2.7 million registered nurses nationwide to promote and maintain the health of this nation, the American Nurses Association recognize registered nurses everywhere on this particular day for the quality work they provide seven days a week, 365 days a year. The nursing profession has been supported and promoted by the American Nurses Association since 1897.

Traditionally, National Nurses Week is devoted to highlighting the diverse ways in which nurses, the largest group of health care professionals, are working to improve our health care system. From bedside nursing in hospitals and long-term care facilities to the halls of research institutions, state legislatures, and Congress, the depth and breadth of the nursing profession is meeting the expanding health care needs of American society.

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Mayo Clinic is a private group practice of medicine dedicated to providing diagnosis and treatment of patient illnesses through a systematic focus on individual patient needs. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 66 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the Clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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