Blythedale Children’s Hospital Celebrates Nursing During National Nurses Week

May 21, 2012 - PRLog -- VALHALLA, NY (May 12, 2012) – Blythedale Children’s Hospital celebrated the important role nurses play in caring for medically fragile children through festivities for National Nurses Week. Blythedale’s Nursing Department includes more than 225 staff members with extensive experience in pediatrics and the specialized care required by children with complex medical issues.

Every year, National Nurses Week focuses attention on the diverse ways America's 3.1 million registered nurses work to save lives and to improve the health of millions of individuals. This year, the American Nurses Association (ANA) selected "Nurses: Advocating, Leading, Caring " as the 2012 theme. Blythedale Children’s Hospital celebrated its Nursing Department with activities throughout the week, including a Nursing Awards Ceremony, a special presentation, and a Recognition Luncheon and Dinner for daytime and night staff.

The Nursing Department was praised by Chief Operating Officer Maureen Desimone during the Nursing Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, May 8, for “commitment and dedication to excellence in pediatric nursing practice and for putting your heart into your career. We are proud of each and every one of you,” she said. The ceremony offered a special opportunity to recognize the role the nursing staff plays in caring for patients, particularly the children and families of Blythedale. Awards were handed out for “Excellence in Nursing,” for registered nurses; “Nursing Partner in Care,” for an exceptional nursing assistant; and “Non-Nursing Partner in Care,” for a non-nursing staff member.

On Wednesday, May 9, Amy Ansehl, RN, MSN, FNP-C, addressed a large group of Blythedale staff from Nursing and other departments about the important work of nurses. Ansehl emphasized the value of nurses in a changing healthcare landscape, and how nurses practice advocacy in their daily practice of patient care. Ansehl is Community Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Children's Environmental Health of the Hudson Valley, as part of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology at New York Medical College in Valhalla.

About National Nurses Week and the American Nurses Association
The American Nurses Association (ANA), through its state and constituent member associations, advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting economic and general welfare, promoting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and lobbying Congress and the regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The ANA supports and encourages National Nurses Week recognition programs through the state and district nurses associations, other specialty nursing organizations, educational facilities, and independent health care companies and institutions.

National Nurses Week begins on May 6, RN Recognition Day, and ends on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of nursing as a modern profession. Traditionally, National Nurses Week is devoted to highlighting the diverse ways in which registered nurses, who comprise the largest health care profession, are working to improve health care. From bedside nursing in hospitals and long-term care facilities to the halls of research institutions, state legislatures, and Congress, the depth and breadth of the nursing profession is meeting the expanding health care needs of American society.

About Blythedale Children’s Hospital
As New York’s only freestanding, specialty children’s hospital, Blythedale Children’s Hospital is dedicated to improving the health status and quality of life of children with complex medical illnesses and disabling conditions through superb multi-disciplinary patient care, teaching, research, and advocacy programs.  Blythedale’s board-certified physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff (social workers, respiratory therapists, clinical pharmacists, Child Life specialists, etc.) and New York State’s largest hospital-based pediatric therapy department (PT, OT and Speech) work together to provide intensive and innovative multi-disciplinary clinical and therapeutic care to help children achieve their medical and rehabilitative goals for independent living, and return to their communities.  Blythedale is also the only Hospital in New York State with its own, on-site public school district, the Mt. Pleasant Blythedale Union Free School District. For more information about Blythedale Children’s Hospital, visit http://www.blythedale.org