Hospital pays tribute to many loyal employees

“It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.”

Florence Nightingale wrote in 1860 reflecting on how more men died during the Crimean War of typhus, cholera, typhoid and dysentery than their battle wounds.

Undoubtedly the most famous nurse, Nightingale not only successfully elevated nursing to a profession, unknowingly was the poster child for women’s rights, and championed sanitation, hygiene, ventilation and improved sewer systems in hospitals.

“National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as Nurses Day, through May 12 the birthday of Florence Nightingale the founder of modern nursing.” Sheryl Rickard, Bonner General Hospital’s chief executive officer, wrote in this month’s hospital newsletter.

“The celebration of National Hospital Week began in 1921 when a magazine editor suggested that more information about hospitals might alleviate public fears.

Today, National Hospital Week is a celebration of the history, technology and dedicated professionals who make hospitals institutions of confidence and care.”

During the Crimean War, this excerpt about Florence Nightingale was printed in The Times: “She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her.

“When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.”

From the nurses to the lab technicians, from the radiology techs to the kitchen staff, from the housekeeping staff to the doctors and from the billing clerks to the admitting staff and everyone in between it takes people to run a hospital and to run it well.

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“Each and every one of you has a critical role in the healthcare team that makes miracles happen 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Rickard said.

“You ensure safety, quality, and caring from the beginning of life to the end of life. There are very few professions that are able to impact the lives of others so profoundly.”

This afternoon 60 hospital employees will be honored for their longevity of service including four individuals who have worked at Bonner General for more than 35 years.

Nita Allard, clinical information systems coordinator; Sharon Beeman, executive assistant; Mike Boseth, lead medical technologist, and Judy Schwintek, Medical surgical health unit coordinator will all be recognized for their commitment and dedication to the hospital.

Nightingale received many honors in her lifetime including becoming the first woman to be granted the British Order of Merit in 1907. She lived to see enormous changes in the medical field because of her work.

Wikipedia says, “She broke through gender barriers and made nursing an organized and respectable profession. The world is indebted to Florence Nightingale and her amazing contributions to medicine.”

Bonner County is indebted to all the loyal employees at BGH who take their professions seriously and provide exemplary service to the community.

Kathy Hubbard is a trustee on Bonner General Hospital Foundation Board. She can be reached at kathyleehubbard@yahoo.com, 264-4029.