International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on 12 May, on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. It’s a day of celebration and acknowledgement of the compassion, professionalism, bravery and round-the-clock commitment of nurses caring for patients around the world.

Here at EGS we will be reading an extract from “Looking at the Stars” by Lewis Hine.

Lewis Hine is a British teen who was diagnosed with water on the brain and a life threatening brain tumour at the age of 17 months. 

Lewis initially shared his experience with millions online before deciding to write it into a memoir. 

He now spearheads the “A World With Friends” charity, which ensures no child faces illnesses alone. He constantly praises and honours the doctors, consultants, nurses and paramedics who supported him.

More about International Nurses Day:

The ICN has set the theme this year as ‘nursing the world back to health’, with a focus on the ‘true value of nurses to the people of the world’.

Annette Kennedy, the ICN President, has said that, ‘This global COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world the important role that nurses play in keeping people healthy across the lifespan’ and so the day will be focused on the future of healthcare.

Each year, the International Council of Nurses prepares and distributes the International Nurses’ Day kit, containing valuable educational and public information materials that can be used by nurses around the world.

However, countries around the world celebrate this occasion in their own ways. For example, in the UK, there is a service held each year in Westminster Abbey in London where a symbolic lamp is passed between nurses until it reaches the Nurses’ Chapel in the Abbey where it is then placed on the High Altar. This symbolises the passing of knowledge from one nurse to another.