Help Spread Nurses Appreciation

Appreciation is “a feeling or expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude.” Growing up we interacted with many nurses whether they were from our schools, hospitals, pediatricians' office, check-ups, etc. Over this past summer, we volunteered for the junior volunteer program at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. We would wheel patients, deliver flowers, direct patients, etc. While doing our volunteer work, we noticed how hardworking nurses were. Over time, we began to realize that some of these nurses needed to get more credit for all that they do. Watching them inspired us to spread awareness about nurses' appreciation and for nurses to get more recognition. We are both juniors at Burlington High School and we are spreading appreciation for nurses in our community.

Nurses are often working incredibly long shifts with patient-to-nurse ratios that are far too high for one person to handle. According to an article from the New York Times, a nurse mentioned she was working with 20 patients by herself. Many hospitals are understaffed after COVID-19 developed, and nurses have been taking a hard hit because of it. Nurses are describing their time at the hospital as a “war zone,” and they are unable to give proper care to every patient. Especially when COVID-19 was rising, nurses were putting their lives on the line to help many patients. They would often have to deal with patient death and talk to patient families. Nurses were dealing with death at incredibly high numbers, and they worked incredibly hard to keep everyone alive and healthy.

To make nurses recognized for what they have done throughout the pandemic, we decided to show them recognition by sending thoughtful messages, letters, and cards to our local nurses. We made an Instagram @_operation_apprecation_ where we post about how we spread nurses' appreciation and how we want more people involved. We also went to the schools in the district and explained to them what nurses' appreciation is. We started by going to Pine Glen, one of the local elementary schools to present to the older elementary schoolers as they are more understanding of what nurses' appreciation is. After we met with the students they made cards, poems, and letters to local nurses. We are also going to Marshall Simonds Middle School to present another presentation over a Google Meet to the whole school and during their advisory period they will make their messages to send to the nurse. We also got Burlington High School involved by setting up a table with materials to make cards and multiple posters throughout the school to follow our Instagram.

If you would like to send a message to a nurse, leave a reply or send a DM to our Instagram (_operation_appreciation_) or email it to us at bhsoperationappreciation@gmail.com.