Healing and Holding Up the World: A Tribute for National Nurse Week

Healing and Holding Up the World: A Tribute for National Nurse Week May 6, 2016

Guest Post: by Elizabeth Myer Boulton

My mother was a nurse all her professional life which meant we grew up with graphic (and often hilarious!) dinner conversation, weird work hours, and the knowledge that we would have to be actively dying or bleeding to death before we could go to the Emergency Room.

Now that I’m a mother who actively sought out nurse midwives for labor and delivery and nurse practitioners for our family’s medical care, I’ve learned more about my mom than simply knowing that the 3-11pm shift took her away from me and forced my dad to make Swanson TV Dinners.

In short, here’s what I’ve learned: nurses are amazing, mythical creatures who heal and hold up the world!  Nurses are smart, compassionate, capable, tough as nails, and have the uncanny ability to tend not only the body but also the soul!

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Ask the new parents who have to leave their pre-mature baby in the hospital overnight for the first time – the only way they are able to leave the warmth of the neo-natal unit and walk out the door is because of NURSES.

Ask the daughter whose angry and down right abusive father has finally gone into liver failure and his inability to drink vodka while tethered to machines has made him meaner than usual – the only way she is able to dawn the door of the hospital and sit by his bedside is because of NURSES.

Ask anyone who has ever had a diagnosis and tried to translate and synthesize all the fast-paced medical jargon being thrown in their direction – the only way they are able to make any kind of sense of it is because of NURSES.

National Nurse Week officially begins on National Nurses Day, May 6th and ends on May 12th, which is Florence Nightingale’s birthday.  To show our appreciation to nurses everywhere (especially Janice Ruth Myer, my mom!), The SALT Project has made a fun, kitschy, and sweet little film to say, “Thank You” to all the nurses in our lives!

Without further ado, SALT’s “Nurse Tribute”:

 

ElizabethElizabeth Myer Boulton is a storyteller and creative director extraordinaire.  Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), her many years of preaching and pastoring have refined her ability to engage an audience with compelling content.  She holds degrees from Trent University and the University of Chicago Divinity School – but, her biggest claim to fame is that she’s the mama of two incredible kids: Jonah and Margaret! She is President and Creative Director of The SALT Project, where you can see more of her Emmy Award-winning work in visual storytelling.  


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