National Nurses Week May 6-12, 2019

National Nurses Week is a time that celebrates the hard work that nurses do every single day to keep people healthy and safe.

The idea for Nurses Day was first suggested in 1953 by Dorothy Sutherland, who was a part of the US Department of health.

There was a proposal that was sent to then president Eisenhower, but it was never approved.

It was in 1954, which was the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale traveling to Crimea which convinced the government to give the proposal another look and there was a bill that was sponsored to recognize more than a day and to look at an entire week, national Nurses week was suggested.

Although there was a bill that was suggested, there was no action that was taken. The same proposal for Nurses week was raised in 1972 to the same results.

Finally, in 1974, there was an international nurse day that was declared by the ICN or the International Council of Nurses.

When this happened, the US government proclaimed Nurses Week, which was from May 6-May 12 and was a proclamation of the work that nurses do for us every day to remember them for all of their hard word. Learn More