Caring for the sick: Nurses celebrated by Mobile County Health Department and Family Health

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Mobile County Health Department and Family Health, its primary care division, has been celebrating the men and women who work to ensure all patients and clients receive the best care possible at Alabama’s oldest public health agency.

“It takes a very special person to care for others,” said Denise Peele, Medical Staff Coordinator at MCHD. “It’s a selfless profession. Our nurses and medical assistants do it with grace, strength and compassion. I think they are all fabulous!”

Peele, along with assistance from staff members Laura Stuart and Dorothy McBride, distributed more than 110 Nurse’s Week goodie bags to MCHD and Family Health nurses. Stuart also baked cookies in the shape of nurses hats for the bags, while staff at Remington, Fortis and Virginia College graciously donated other items, Peele said.

Banners commemorating the week are now hanging throughout the agency, including a bright sign at the front of the Health Department’s Bayou Street location in downtown Mobile.

National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. These permanent dates help to position National Nurses Week as an established recognition event.  The nursing profession has been supported and promoted by the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. In 2015, MCHD employed approximately 130 nurses and medical assistants.

While nurses have been around much longer, it wasn’t until 1954 that National Nurses Week was observed from October 11 - 16. The year of the observance marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea.