According to Statistics New Zealand, the population of this country now, as I type this, is 4,405,134. They estimate that the population increases by one person every 10 minutes and 46 seconds, one birth every 8 minutes and 10 seconds, one death every 20 minutes and 7 seconds and a net migration gain of one New Zealand resident every 49 minutes and 51 seconds. Nurses will be there at the majority of births, a lot of the deaths, and no doubt there amongst the migrants, too. I know they are amongst these graduates celebrating the start of their careers after all the long hours of study and hard work.
If I had the inclination to crunch the numbers I could work out what the population would likely have been at 10 am on 12 May when I attended a morning tea to celebrate International Nurses Day. Yes, I took photos but I forgot to ask permission from the subjects to use them, so had best not.
12 May marks the 185th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The nursing profession has come a very long way since the achievements of one of its greatest but still today we have ministering angels. And where would we be without them?
I took the opportunity later in the day to say thank you for her comfort, compassion, and caring to my doctor’s nurse. I swear my blood pressure would be higher from white coat syndrome were it not for her.
I know Friday Shoot Outs are meant to be about photography. Somehow, I just can't get my head around this topic. I keep thinking about the spirit of nursing and don't know how to go about capturing that.
"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." Florence Nightingale
Great photo. I didn't think of my friend's capping as a nurse. My blog is nostaligic
ReplyDeleteAh, thanks for this info and quote, as well as your appreciation for nurses! My Florence Nightingale was and is such a force.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time too trying to think how to photograph it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post to include Florence Nightengale. I was so aggravated with Blogger I did not expect to get to post. Nursing is a noble profession for sure as well as many, many others.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Hello Pauline,
ReplyDeleteFlorence Nightingale is still lsuch a well known person,she did a lot for nursing. Have a great weekend.
Bev.xoxo
I never heard of International Nurses Day before. I also didn't know the date had to do with Florence N's birthday (thanks for the info).
ReplyDeleteI don't have any photos of medical staff doing their job. So I concentrated on the hospital building instead.
Anything that celebrates the achievements of nurses and nursing is a Good Thing in my book.
ReplyDeleteI love this post Pauline. your thoughts and feelings add a lot to the theme.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this tribute to nurses Pauline - I believe nurses are angels on earth and they deserve so much credit. I'd never heard that quote but it's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteNurses are angels in my opinion. It is a profession I could never do, but I am very grateful for those that do.
ReplyDeleteI think this a great picture to post for this weeks theme. Nurses have to work so hard! Graduations is such a great feeling for them.
ReplyDelete