Greetings to the sweet and loving people of Rivers State. This is another episode of Rivethics on Radio, our character-building weekend show. It is my honour to welcome you to this episode. Please remember that nurses, as caregivers, play angelic roles and should be honoured as such. Our topic this weekend is the International Nurses Day which came up on May 12th, in honour of Nurses world wide.
Nursing is considered one of the most respected professions in the world because of the selfless hard work that is involved. Nurses are trained to be people-centered, which requires them to treat the person, as well as the disease. That is why nurses are highly valued in the health care service delivery chain. People–centeredness means treating people, patients, their loved ones, carers and others with compassion, dignity and respect. It means doing things ‘with’ people, not ‘to’ them.
Nurses are the heart of healthcare. They are there when the first breath is taken, and nurses are there when the last breath is taken. They see it all, the pain, the aches, the complications, the distress, the recovery, the hope, the healing. Too often we underestimate the power of the nurse’s touch, smile, kind word, listening ear, honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn around a sick condition.
A nurse’s website has the following impressive description of the role of nurses: “Being a nurse means you will never be bored. Rather, you will always be surrounded by challenges. You will always be frustrated. So much to do and so little time. You will carry immense responsibility and very little authority. You will step into people’s lives and you will make a difference. Some will bless you, some will curse you. You will see people at their worst and at their best. You will never cease to be amazed at people’s capacity for love, courage and endurance. You will see life begin and end. You will experience resounding triumphs and devastating failures. You will cry a lot, you will laugh a lot. You will know what it is to be human and how to be humane.” This has been the lot of nurses and will continue to be so.
We at Rivethics join the world to say, thank you nurses for helping our parents survive heart attacks; thank you for waking up by 5am to make sure our senior citizens have the medicine they needed to live; thank you for working all night to save the lives of strangers; and thank you for sacrificing your weekends and holidays to keep all of well and happy. We are amazed at all that you do, and we honour you.
Our guest speaker is a distinguished lady, Mrs. Peace Ejiks Nwikiri, a Deputy Director of Nursing. She will throw more light on today’s topic. Please enjoy the episode.
Our good people of Rivers State, please remember to always let your manners speak for you.
God bless and keep you and your families and God bless Rivers State.
Her Excellency, Justice (Mrs.) Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, the wife of the Governor of Rivers State and initiator of the RivEthics Social Development Programme
You can also listen to and download the Pidgin English version of this Episode below