MDBCs 08 May 2024

The Wednesday between May 6 and May 12 of each year is National School Nurse Day, a day to celebrate and thank all school nurses that take care of children when they are at school.

The unofficial holiday was created in 1972 by the National Association of School Nurses, based in the United States. The day aims to recognize school nurses and acknowledge their role in the educational setting.

Ensure Well-Being of Children

School nurses are nursing practitioners usually affiliated with a school or an educational institution. School nurses are one of the first lines of medical professionals to ensure the health and mental well-being of school going children and young adults. They are also responsible for monitoring that children in schools are achieving their developmental milestones as well as ensuring that their lives outside the school are safe and healthy.

National Nurse Week

National School Nurse Day, also known as School Nurse Day, is celebrated during National Nurse Week, which runs annually from May 6 to May 12. May 6 is celebrated as National Nurses Day, while May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale is celebrated worldwide as International Nurses Day.

How to Celebrate?

Thank your school nurse for taking care of you.
Learn more about what school nurses do.
If you have school-going children, help your children make thank you gifts or write thank you notes to their school nurse.

Did You Know…

...that Florence Nightingale is thought to be responsible for creating the foundation for modern day nursing? Known as The Lady With the Lamp, she opened the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery in 1860, which was the world's first secular nursing school and remains one of the world's oldest schools to be still operational.

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Last Valentine's Day, I arrived at the doctor's office where I work as a receptionist to find a mystery man pacing up and down holding a package. As I got out of the car, he declared warmly, "I have something for you."

I excitedly ripped open the bundle. It was a urine sample.

***

I walked into the lobby of my apartment building recently and was greeted by this notice: "To whoever is watering these plants, please stop. They are the property of the building, and our maintenance staff will take care of them. They may have already been watered, in which case you will be overwatering them. Besides, these plants are fake."

***

Our coworker Patrick shared his worst workday ever. He was at an appliance store and the delivery truck had broken down, which meant he was flooded with angry phone calls from customers. One irate caller canceled the delivery and told Patrick what he could do with it.

"I'm sorry," said Patrick. "That's impossible. I already have a stove, a vacuum cleaner, and a microwave up there."

***

In lectures on human genetics, I explained to my college students that males determine the sex of the offspring by contributing either an X or a Y chromosome. So at the end of the year, I put it on the final exam: "How is the sex of the child determined?"

One student wrote, "By examining it at birth."