Nursing: A Noble Profession

By Thomas Sulier

World War I Red Cross nurse recruitment poster with American flag and the slogan "America’s answer to humanity’s challenge"
World War I Red Cross poster encouraging women to serve as nurses: “America’s answer to humanity’s challenge”

My wife of 36 years was a geriatric nurse who worked at Saint Vincent’s Hospital for many years. I always knew of the intense personal commitment which nurses make to their patients, and the difference that they make in the emotional and physical life of their charges. However, it was not until my wife was faced with terminal cancer in 2018, that I actually lived through the nightmare of the family of an ill and then dying patient. During these many months of struggle, I gained firsthand, a glimpse into the difference that nurses can make, not only to the patient, but to the family of the patient.

I don’t have to tell you that nurses make all the difference in the world to the ill and to their families, as they really are in the front lines of the physical and emotional struggles, the pain and suffering that attends everyone when sickness or injury visits them.  While doctors can remotely diagnose and prescribe, it is the nurse who remains in constant contact with patient as well as with his or her family.  It is the nurse who is there on the front lines explaining, monitoring and extending hope from minute to minute.  It is the nurse who attends to the patient’s emotional and physical state.  It is the nurse who we all look upon to help us through the difficult travails of illness.

I have had a chance to see and experience the difference that good nursing can do for the terminal patient and their family, and I am grateful for the fine work that all the nurses who attended my wife in the final months of her life did. It is you, the nurse, whose encouraging words and comforting decisions, which make the lives of the patients and their families more bearable during uncertain times.  In many ways you are unsung heroes, but your good and gentle work does not go unnoticed by the Great Power Above, which weighs and notices all that happens here during our mortal lives.

Many thanks to all nurses in such a noble profession!

Read more articles by Tom Sulier

Watch “Angels in White”, a tribute to nurses with the original song by Matt Fitzgibbons.

Read the story behind how my friend, Matt Fitzgibbons (founder of PatriotMusic.com), wrote his musical tribute to nurses “Angels in White”.