Porter Health Care System Honors Nurses with Candlelight Vigil During National Nurses Week

Porter Health Care System Honors Nurses with Candlelight Vigil During National Nurses Week

Each year, National Nurses Week focuses attention on the diverse ways that the nearly 3.1 million nurses in America work to save lives and improve the health of millions of people. To celebrate and pay special tribute to their nurses, Porter Health Care System held a Candlelight Vigil at Porter Regional Hospital on Wednesday that featured the Blessing of the Hands, the Nurses Proclamation, and a Nursing Pledge honoring the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing as a modern profession.

“The Florence Nightingale Pledge is really a renewal of vows,” said Chief Nursing Officer Terrie Fontenot. “It's very heartfelt and brings our mission back to the forefront of what we do and why we do it.”

During the ceremony, Porter Regional Hospital’s chaplain, Mike Porter, conducted a Blessing of the Hands for all the nurses and caregivers in attendance and Porter County Commissioner John Evans read the Nurse's Week Proclamation. After that, Fontenot shared the Florence Nightingale Pledge.

“Florence Nightingale, whose birthday is actually this Friday, was the innovator of many nursing practices that we’ve put in place over time,” said Fontenot. “She started with the whole understanding of infection control. She understood that providing quietness for patients and making sure that they had that healing environment was so important. She was innovative in every way.”

National Nurses Week gives doctors and administrators at Porter Health Care System the opportunity to show how much they appreciate the hard work and dedication that their nurses display every day, and the impact that service has on the patients and families who rely on their care.

“It’s just such a huge part of who we are,” said Porter Health Care System’s CEO, Steve Lunn. “When you think about hospitals and when patients think about healthcare they think about people that they want to trust and that they find empathetic. When you use those phrases and those adjectives what you’re really talking about are the nurses.”

“Our nurses all do such an amazing job and I’m impressed each and every single day that I come into work and see the work they do and the lives they touch,” Lunn said.