A salute to New Jersey’s nurses

This is National Nurses Week, a time to celebrate nurses and lots of other unsung people in healthcare and show them the the respect and praise they so richly deserve.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Margaret Ames, Chief Nursing Officer at Jersey City Medical Center, about how important nurses are to our society.

It brought home the point of just how much they mean to all of us at some point in our lives.

We also took calls from people who wanted to acknowledge and shout out the nurses in their lives that make a difference every day. One woman called to tell us about a nurse who called the family of a dying patient, but no one came to be with her, so she stayed an extra three hours with the patient as she passed on to the next life.

There were so many emotional true stories from people who wanted to show their gratitude for the nurses in New Jersey. If I could shout out one that went out of her way to help me this year.

In late March I had to be hospitalized overnight following a medical procedure.

I was told there were no rooms available in the hospital, so I'd have to stay overnight in the recovery room where I was taken after the procedure. There were surely rooms at the hospital but not enough nurses to care for all of the people there that day. They have been so understaffed and overworked for the past two years.

They told me I would be in the room alone at least, then another patient showed up with obvious issues who was pretty loud and unpredictable. I'll just leave it at that.

The new nurse that came on for the 12-hour overnight shift saw that I wouldn't get the rest I needed and immediately made the necessary arrangements to move me to another room. I didn't expect that, but I was so grateful that this nurse treated me like I was her family or close friend.

That kind of special treatment from nurses happens every day. They should know how grateful we are. I sure am. Thank you RN Kate Sharrow at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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