All of us at Barco’s Nightingales Foundation are delighted to see the positive images of nurses emerging in recent news stories.  These hard working professionals so rarely receive the recognition they deserve these and other stories bear repeating and sharing, from the retired nurse in Fort Smith, Arkansas who is using her pension to feed the hungry in her hometown, to the recent story about the young woman who was severely burned as an infant who reunited with the nurse who cared for her  in the hospital.
Far too often, nurses are portrayed in a negative light whether in the news or in television and film.  It is good to see these positive stories, and we hope they are the start of many more that show nurses’ professionalism and dedication. Here are a few we felt were powerful, to say the least; we hope you share them with others.
Renee Hendrix spent her 33-year career as a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse in Marietta, Georgia. Renee works in one of the most emotionally intense areas of a hospital, caring for the tiniest of patients on a daily basis, often she is the difference between life and death for these children. Renee was recently surprised and honored by some of her past patients and their families.  In an interview, she shared that she took care of the babies and their parents as she tried to their time in the hospital as normal as possible. Her attitude embodies what all nurses are called to do –work with not just the patient, but the families as well.

These stories are the beginning, we hope of ongoing reports on the professionalism and dedication shown by nurses in all areas of healthcare. We hope you join us in encouraging your local news media to continue to promote the positive image of nursing.
1.  Write to the editors and thank them for their stories.
2.  Comment on articles that are posted online.
3.  Write a letter to the editor about your experience with a caring, professional nurse.
4.  Encourage hospitals to honor a nurse who made an impact in your life by letting the local media know.
We wish to thank all nurses for their dedication and continued service in their chosen profession, and look forward to the day when negative images and beliefs about nursing will be in the past forever.
~Michael and Frida Donner