Sorry Time Magazine you got it wrong, Person of the year 2020, is THE NURSE
Dear Time Magazine,
The person of the year 2020 is THE NURSE.
We are sorry to point out your major flaw in appointing Biden and Kamala as the person of the year but 2020 is the year of the nurse. This has been categorically recognized around the globe and never before has the work of nurses been more instrumental than the year 2020, the year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In the year 2020, the World Health Assembly declared 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, recognizing the dedication and lives saving work that nurses and midwives do. Never before has there been such a spotlight on nurses illustrating true heroic work that they do. The pandemic illustrated the work that nurses and midwives perform all over the world who rose to the challenges to care for those during the pandemic, day-after-day, week-after-week, and month-after-month. As nurses rose to the challenges around the world in helping patients, nurses HAVE and CONTINUE to risk their own safety, work in conditions with inadequate staffing, personal protective equipment, and other supports and resources.
The person of the year should go to any of the essential employees that showed up to work, housekeepers, doctors, transporters, Midwives, NPs, PAs, techs, EMTs, hospital support persons, researchers, scientists,s and lab technicians working with COVID, police, firefighters, grocery workers, truck drivers. These are the true "persons of the year 2020"!
We all saw during this pandemic what nurses had to go through and here is a list:
· Nurses showed up to work knowing that there wasn’t adequate PPE to protect them to care for patients.
· Nurses showed up to work and created PPE to help protect themselves and others.
· Nurses showed up to work knowing that they could bring home the virus to their families.
· Nurses showed up to work hurt and injured.
· Nurses showed up to work with supplies and equipment to adapt to the environment so patients could feel more comfortable.
· Nurses showed up to work knowing that they may not see their families for a while.
· Nurses showed up to work knowing that they would be the last person to be with their patients saying goodbye.
· Nurses showed up to work sad when their colleagues weren’t coming back to work.
· Nurses showed up to work scared and anxious.
· Nurses showed up to work knowing is was going to be another long and difficult shift
So on behalf of nurses Time Magazine, 20201 can be the year of Biden and Kamala, for 2020 is and will always be the YEAR of THE NURSE