Mayor designates Nurses Week

Effingham Mayor Mike Schutzbach (seated center) recently signed a proclamation designating May 6-12, 2024 as Nurses Week, to honor local nurses and their positive impact on our lives. 

Joining the Mayor as he signed the proclamation was HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Jennings (third from left), and other leaders, along with nursing and clinical professionals from various departments at St. Anthony’s.

The proclamation shared that the 3.2 million registered nurses in the U.S. constitute the nation’s largest health care profession. Professional nurses have demonstrated to be an indispensable component of the safety and quality of care of hospitalized patients. According to the American Nurses Association, the demand for nursing services will be greater than ever because of the aging of the American population, the continuing expansion of life-sustaining technologies, and the explosive growth of home health care services. The cost-effective, safe, and high-quality health care services provided by nursing professionals will be an increasingly important component of the U.S. health care delivery system in the future.