ANTHC celebrates its hardworking, talented nursing staff during National Nurses’ Week
May 9, 2022
Being a nurse under normal circumstances is hard work. Long shifts. Sick and injured patients to care for. Sometimes after doing everything you could to save them, your patients pass away. Time-consuming technology that can take you away from the bedside. Stressful days and nights. And these last two years being a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic added multiple layers of unique challenges.
Nurses’ Week is celebrated annually from May 6, National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. ANTHC celebrated our amazing nursing staff all week. Events included a special breakfast, lunches, craft kits, a carnival with treats and games and even a special campus blood drive in honor of Nurses’ Week.
Nurses at the Alaska Native Medical Center provide high-quality, patient-and-family-centered care. Our nurses display their commitment and excellence through professional development, evidence-based practice, and innovations in their professional nursing practice at ANMC. And in addition to their work and education, many of ANMC’s nurses participate in shared governance which shapes the work they do at the bedside.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the health care industry especially hard. There was a worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment. Policies and procedures changed rapidly and continuously. Many nurses had to quickly adapt their practices and work in areas they typically did not.
“Our nurses continually go above and beyond and provide excellent care for our people,” said Tracy Runyan-Traylor, ANMC Chief Nurse Executive. “These last two years have been really tough and our nurses have taken on additional responsibilities and made many sacrifices. Those sacrifices have not gone unnoticed and it was really fun to celebrate our incredible nursing staff!”
More than 560 nurses work in the ANMC hospital and across the Consortium, making up about a quarter of our workforce at the hospital.
Our nurses are viewed as respected partners, collaborators and leaders. They are constantly seeking ways to improve the services and care we provide, from processes and initiatives to technology and equipment and specialty certifications and training.
In an effort to further recognize our nurses for their outstanding work, ANMC partnered with the DAISY Award, an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses every day. ANMC presents the DAISY Award to RNs who regularly go above and beyond in the care they provide.
The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died of complications of the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.
If you would like to nominate a nurse for the DAISY Award, please visit https://anmc.org/the-daisy-award/nomination-form/.