Do you know an amazing nurse?

Hospitals are no fun.

I know, as over the past fifteen years I’ve had seven extended stays due to an accident. That means seven surgeries, seven intensive rehabs, and seven weeks (yes each time I was in a full week to ten days) of being taken care of by an amazing nursing staff at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence, RI.

On each of my seven “visits” I’d ended up on the same floor (since all orthopedic patients are grouped together), and as a result I got pretty darn friendly with the nurses.  As a matter of fact I had the same day nurse on each and every one of my stays. Now, anyone who’s been hospitalized knows how tough it can be to be stuck in bed, looking your worst, and having to eat hospital food. My new best friend (Nurse L.), would come to my room before her lunch break every day and ask if I wanted her to pick anything up for me.  If the staff was ordering food to be delivered, she’d come in with the restaurant menu and find out what I wanted, and she actually BAKED FOR ME and brought me goodies! SHE MADE MY HOSPITALIZATIONS TOLERABLE!

There are countless stories of nurses who’ve gone above and beyond and really impacted the lives of their patients. Johnson & Johnson is honoring them by letting YOU tell the story of how a nurse  had an impact on your life, or the life of a friend or loved on, as part of the J&J “Amazing Nurses Contest.”

The winning Amazing Nurse and his/her guest will attend the 2012 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute show in Los Angeles, courtesy of CNN. They will be honored in a video profile which will be screened before the live audience at the show, and featured on the Nursing Notes by Johnson & Johnson Facebook page. (*Eligible Nominees for the Amazing Nurses contest must be a Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) who currently administers direct patient care.)

Did you know: the healthcare field is experiencing a severe shortage of nurses; there is currently a nationwide vacancy of over 100,000 positions, and that number is expected to grow to 800,000 by the year 2020?

I don’t know about you, but having a disability where I’m hospitalized every now and then…this worries me.  It makes me think that it’s time for more students entering college to consider a future in nursing, as the outlook for jobs looks GREAT.

If you’ve had a nurse impact your life…why not nominate him or her? It’s a nice way of saying THANK YOU to those who help us heal.

Enter your nomination on Johnson & Johnson’s Nursing Notes Facebook Page.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom CentralConsulting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.