TORONTO, May 3, 2012 /Canada NewsWire/ - Almost 60,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and registered practical nurses - members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) - are set to begin an annual celebration of their profession as Nursing Week 2012 kicks off.
Nursing Week will be marked by ONA members across Ontario with speaking events, site visits from ONA leaders and other special events that remind nurses to celebrate the unique value they bring to health care.
"These are tough times for Ontarians, tough times for health care and tough times for front-line nurses who work so hard to provide quality care," said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "Nursing Week is the perfect time to remind our nurses and ourselves that dollar for dollar, we are the best value in health care and we make valuable contributions to positive patient outcomes."
Haslam-Stroud and other ONA leaders will visit communities during the next week to meet with nurses in all sectors of health care - hospitals, long-term care, community care, public health, clinics and private industry.
"I hope that Ontarians everywhere will take a moment to appreciate the value they get for their health care tax dollars from the work of these professionals," she said. "Our nurses on the front lines are invaluable to patients and our communities and once a year, we should all take time to recognize their contributions."
ONA is the union representing 59,000 front-line RNs, RPNs and allied health professionals and more than 13,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in Ontario hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics
