A salute to each nurse on Nurses Day

May 12, 2022

Pple Healthcare is celebrating International Nurses Day on 12 May, in recognition of the incredible work that each nurse does every day, and more specifically, in appreciation of the contribution to our country’s health and wellbeing by the more than 5,000 enrolled nurses in our employ.

International Nurses Day is an annual observance that commemorates the birth on 12 May 1820 of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who is remembered as a “ministering angel” and “the lady of the lamp”.

International Nurses Day was established in 1974 by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) to highlight the important role that nurses fulfil in healthcare, which ICN describes as: “From birth to death, non-communicable diseases to infection disease, mental health to chronic conditions, in hospitals, communities and homes, nurses provide accessible, affordable, person-centred, holistic care for all.”

The theme of the day this year is ‘A voice to lead – a vision for future healthcare’ which focuses on the need for nurses to become more active and vocal in policy development and implementation, highlighting the many ways that nurses are making an impact.

For Pple Healthcare, 2022 marks 20 years that we’ve been providing South Africa’s healthcare industry with high-calibre nurses who have consistently done themselves, our company, and the wider healthcare industry proud.

For this, we salute each and every one of them.

We recognise the value that nurses add to all our lives, and more particularly, throughout the past two pandemic years, that nurses stepped up to the challenge of caring for patients, often delivering quality care against the odds.

According to Dr William Osler (b. 1849), physician and founder of USA’s renowned John Hopkins University, “The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.”

We know this to be true. As Pple Healthcare, and within the wider Pple Group, we acknowledge and appreciate the endless contribution that nurses make to ensure that our healthcare systems deliver essential services to communities across the length and breadth of our country.

Our thanks go to all our nurses who, without fail, uphold the character of nursing’s founding member, Florence Nightingale, devoting their lives to the service of others. We are proud of you all.

Happy Nurses Day from all of us at Pple Healthcare – you are heroes in our eyes!