Every May, our community comes together to celebrate National Nurses Week — an opportunity to honor the compassion, skill and resilience that nurses bring to each and every corner of our hospital system.
This year, as we strive for our third Magnet designation at Reading Hospital, the timing of Nurses Week feels especially meaningful. Magnet recognition is a symbol of nursing excellence, an excellence that is woven into the fabric of our organization thanks to the hundreds of nurses across Tower Health.
Nursing is a vast and vibrant spectrum with touchpoints in many different specialties, including pediatrics, education, labor and delivery, emergency, home health, mental health, administration and so many others. Each one is united by our shared commitment to the health and well-being of our community.
In a world where healthcare is more complex than ever before, it is important that I shine a spotlight on the quality of care and compassion our nurses provide every day.
Nurses are the steady hands that help guide patients through some of their most vulnerable moments. As someone who has dedicated more than 40 years to nursing, I recognize the long hours and emotional labor, the quick decisions that save lives and the quiet moments that can help provide peace — and I thank you for all of them.
The field is truly an art and a science. Whether behind-the-scenes or on the front lines, our nurses touch more lives than they may realize, but I can promise it never goes unnoticed.
I am grateful to have taken a position that allows me to foster an environment where our nurses feel empowered, supported and encouraged to lead. It is imperative to me that each and every one, regardless of title or tenure, has a voice and uses it to advocate for what is best.
As I have visited each one of our hospitals, I have seen firsthand the ways our nurses collaborate with various departments to ensure our patients are receiving the best possible care.
This type of culture does not just happen by chance. It happens because our nurses look at every challenge as an opportunity to grow and improve care, and they do it together — unit to unit, specialty to specialty, across our entire system.
As we celebrate Nurses Week, let us remember that this observance is about more than appreciation. It’s about recognition of the diversity of roles, the complexity of the field and the humanity that sits at its core.
To our nurses of the past, present and future: thank you. Thank you for your clinical excellence, emotional intelligence, teamwork and mentorship. I hope that this week serves as a reminder that the excellence in nursing is not just what we aspire to be, but who we already are.
Those curious or interested in a career in nursing should reach out to the Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences at 484-628-0100 or RHSHS@towerhealth.org. The program, which is built on more than 131 years of experience, offers a faculty-to-student ratio of 1:8 to 10 for clinical experiences. This helps to provide students with individualized attention to meet their learning needs to ensure we continue to provide the best for our patients for generations to come.
Lisa Lougheed, Ph.D., is Chief Nursing Officer at Reading Hospital, Chief Nurse Executive at Tower Health.
