Care City Weekly | Special Nurses' Week Edition

Celebrating Nurses All Over The World This Month

Care City Media

Aren't we so glad to fully resume our long vacation with this Nurses' Week special? 

We haven't published anything on our website or in newsletters for over four months. 

Our social media handles have been very silent.

There have been no posts, no activities, nothing, and nobody even cared to ask how we were doing😭.

Building brands is hard work and a lonely venture. 

No one will pat you on the back when you are alone and doing the heavy lifting. The world only cares about success. And that's why we are not giving up!

That's why you should never give up!

We took a long break to do a lot of underground work. 

We overhauled our website (you can check it out here—comments on how we can improve are very welcome) and searched for new team members, especially more writers. 

Our brand depends on writing and publishing. Without good writers and reporters, our brand is dead. 

We also hired more graphic designers and a social media manager (you must have observed some of our social media activities on LinkedIn/Twitter). 

Care City is a healthcare media brand that started out dedicated to nursing (wish you could see our first logos). 

We gradually evolved into the brand we are today, dedicated to healthcare, leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship. 

Over the years, most of our team members have been nurses from different backgrounds. Today, our team is made up of 60% nurses who write, report, design, and even code! 

If there's any brand that should celebrate nurses more, I think it should be Care City. 

We are a growing brand today because of the dedication, sacrifice, and input of innovative nurses who worked hard and spent time and money to bring the brand to where it is today. 

From my experience as a founder, leader, and writer, I am bold to say that nurses are the easiest professionals to work with in the creative space. 

They could be busy with other engagements, but if you can show them a solid vision, they will be willing to work and toil with you. 

I guess it's just a "natural something" we all nurses have. 

One of our primary missions at Care City is to inspire healthcare professionals to do more. 

In everything we do, whether writing, reporting, designing, preparing for a webinar, or posting on social media, our hidden message is simple: healthcare professionals can do much more!

And this nurses' week, we preach the same message to all nurses! You can do more! 

This edition of Care City is dedicated to nurses all over the world who are either at the bedside giving compassionate care, in the classrooms educating the next generation of nurses, or in the research fields, discovering and adding to the body of growing nursing knowledge, or in the political enclaves, fighting for the enactment of policies that will improve healthcare and nursing practice, or at the innovation labs, coming up with innovative ideas to improve healthcare delivery.

Wherever they are, you are our heroes, and this week (and month), we celebrate you! 

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Here are some highlights from the nurses' week celebrations worldwide and some interesting healthcare news we know you would love, compiled by our editorial team (we made it very brief).

Enjoy, and don't forget to share this newsletter and subscribe; it's free. 

Check How The American Nurses Association Is Celebrating Nurses Week

Nursingworld.org

The American Nurses Association celebrates the nurses’ week with style and plenty of decorative shiny colours in the sky.  

"This year we're illuminating the spirit of nursing excellence by lighting up landmarks across the country in honor of National Nurses Week."

Taking it to an entirely new level, ANA is lighting up landmark buildings across the country (America) to celebrate nurses and pass a strong message that nurses light up the skies and our world. 

They have also prepared giveaway packages and more.

Come, let's go to the Middle East. 

International Nurses Day In The UAE | Khaleej Times 

The Khaleej Times wrote a very heartwarming article for nurses. 

They interviewed nurses, who shared their experiences and challenges.

The Chief Nursing Officer of Cleveland Clinic, Elizabeth Govero, was one of the nurses interviewed, alongside Firas Munther, assistant director of nursing at Healthpoint and other nurses who shared their perspectives about the unique roles nurses play in the healthcare ecosystem.  

I read it and enjoyed it. 

More nursing news. 

Celebrating A Nurse Icon’s Retirement

Image Credit: College Of Medicine University Of Ibadan

Professor Funmilayo Okanlawon, an icon in Nigeria's nursing academic ecosystem, celebrated his retirement in March.

Joining the celebration were fellow scholars, vice-chancellors, senior nursing leaders, politicians, and students. 

Thinking Loud: "As the older generation of nursing scholars in Nigeria gradually leaves the scene, I really hope that we will have better replacements for them. In this generation, more nurses are leaving Nigeria to seek higher learning and education in the developed world, and it's already becoming obvious that they are not coming back. Nurses who have gone abroad to study for their master's and PhD's are not returning home. Besides, what are they even coming back home to do? When they are paid better over there, are respected, and have the best environment for career progression."

Let me stop there. This looks like an exciting topic I could write more about. 

We wish Professor Funmilayo Okanlawon a happy retirement. 

His contributions to nursing research and academia have helped shape and nurture many nursing academics and will forever be appreciated and remembered by the nursing community in Nigeria and worldwide. 

Here are some beautiful throwback images of Professor Funmilayo Okanlawon.

Image Credit: College Of Medicine University Of Ibadan

Policies: Nurses Take The Bold Step And Sue The Government From Trying To Stop Them From Leaving The Country

Last year, I wrote an opinion article on Care City about a bill passed to prevent doctors from leaving the country. You can read it here. 

While reading and doing a bit of research for this edition of Care City Weekly, I came across an article about nurses suing the government for trying to stop them from leaving the country, and I decided to include the story in this edition. 

The government is making the process of nurses leaving the country hard and painful. 

Before the fear of "brain drain" (which shouldn't be an emergency), leaving the country for nurses was straightforward. 

But now, after it suddenly dawned on the government that they are losing nurses to countries like The United Kingdom, they have placed heavy hurdles in the way. 

They have made it (or trying to make it) compulsory for newly qualified nurses to spend two years in the country before leaving, inflated the council registration fees, and made the verification processes unnecessarily long.

The wages of nurses are annoyingly low, working conditions are deplorable, and the workload is high, among other factors that have made the environment very unfavourable for nurses and other healthcare professionals to practice in Nigeria. 

The government neglected the country's healthcare sector for many years, and now that the repercussions are coming, they are trying to hide behind fig trees and devise policies that look almost "anti-democracy" in nature. 

This short article by Opendemocracy addresses many issues surrounding these new guidelines, which are designed to restrict the freedom of movement of nurses in Nigeria. 

More Healthcare News You Might Find Interesting…

Breakthrough By Shanghai Doctors Uses Stem Cells To Cure Diabetes.

"Doctors in Shanghai have, for the first time in the world, cured a patient's diabetes through the transplantation of pancreatic cells derived from stem cells. The 59-year-old man, who had Type 2 diabetes for 25 years, has been completely weaned off insulin for 33 months, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital announced on Tuesday. A paper about the medical breakthrough, achieved after more than a decade of endeavor by a team of doctors at the hospital, was published on the website of the journal Cell Discovery on April 30."

Listening And Learning: Streamlining Nursing Development In Ukraine Amid The War

"WHO is committed to supporting Ukraine in strengthening nursing policies to ensure that Ukrainian nurses are protected, motivated, and equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge, enabling them to deliver healthcare services to Ukrainian patients in the challenging circumstances posed by the war," said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine."

And that's a wrap of this special Nurses' Week Edition of Care City Weekly. 

We hope you enjoyed it. Throughout this month, we will feature more news and articles about nursing as part of our celebration of Nurses Week/Month.

We also have many activities on our social media pages (there's going to be a lot of giveaways for nurses in Nigeria—shhh, don't tell anyone I said anything; it's our little secret). 

If you haven't subscribed to Care City Weekly, kindly do so; it's free. 

Subscribing and sharing help us grow the publication and also help us fulfil our brand mission of inspiring healthcare professionals to do more. 

Catch you next week, and have a wonderful weekend ahead. 

Ayinla Daniel. 

(Founder & Editor of Care City). 

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Notice any mistakes, errors, or corrections? Please send us a friendly email here: info@carecityonline.com.