Dear Tennessee Nurses:

On behalf of the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA), I appreciate the opportunity to recognize you during National Nurse's Month and thank you for your vital contributions to healthcare.

Typically, National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday, with the purpose of celebrating nurses, who are at the forefront of improving patient care and transforming healthcare.

However, this year, National Nurse's Week has special meaning, not only because the World Health Organization named 2020 the International Year of the Nurse, but because the COVID19 pandemic has increased awareness of your compassion, dedication and professionalism. With this in mind, we are excited to join the American Nurses Association in expanding National Nurses Week to a month-long celebration in May.

Over the past several weeks, many of you have had to make difficult personal sacrifices, such as remaining apart from your children or aging parents, taking on new work assignments, coping with furloughs and conserving personal protective equipment. Yet you have remained concerned about patients, working hard to ensure they get the best possible care and offering the emotional support so necessary while they are apart from their families.

Whether you are in a leadership role, an area of specialty practice, a retired nurse returning to the workforce, a graduate nurse just entering the workforce or a patient-care nurse on the front lines, we honor you for demonstrating unselfish service to others, the true spirit of nursing.

Thank you for the excellent care you provide to Tennesseans.

Sincerely,

Wendy Long, M.D.

President and CEO