Weeklong celebration honors the work, role of nurses

Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres signed Friday the proclamation that designates the week of June 12-18, 2022 as CNMI Nurses Week. (OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR)

Joined by Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. acting chief executive officer Jesse M. Tudela, nurses, officials, and members of the community, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed Friday the proclamation that designates the week of June 12-18, 2022, as CNMI Nurses Week.

This comes as the CNMI Nurses Association will celebrate the week with the theme “Nurses Make A Difference” to honor the ways in which nurses strive to provide safe and quality patient care and map out the way to improve the healthcare system.

In the United States alone, there are 4.3 million professional nurses, 950,000 licensed practical/vocational nurses, over 1.5 million certified nursing assistants and 325,000 advanced nurse practitioners. That means nurses comprise the nation’s largest health care profession.

Nurses save lives 24/7 through ethical practice, safety, and quality care demonstrated to be an indispensable component in the healthcare industry. They are not only the first and primary point of contact with patients but, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when visitors were limited, nurses were often the last kind eyes a dying patient saw.

Friday’s proclamation intends to highlight the fact that the depth and breadth of the registered nursing profession meets the different and emerging health care needs of the CNMI population in a wide range of settings, and that the demand for nursing services will be greater than ever because of the aging of the population, the continuing expansion of life-sustaining technology, the explosive growth of home health care services, and the establishment of compact licensure agreement between states and telehealth.

It recognizes that more qualified nurses will be needed in the future to meet the increasingly complex needs of health care consumers in this community and that the cost-effective, safe, and quality health care services provided by nurses will be an ever more important and valuable component of the U.S. health care delivery system in the future.

The American Nurses Association and the CNMI Nursing Association are working to chart a new course for a healthy nation that relies on increasing delivery of primary and preventive health care

“I urge everyone in the CNMI to join me in honoring the nurses who care for all of us by celebrating their accomplishments and efforts to improve our healthcare system. I also encourage all our residents to show our appreciation for the nation’s nurses not just during this week, but at every opportunity throughout the year,” said Torres.