Memorial Medical Center-Livingston Honors its Nurses

Memorial Medical Center-Livingston honored its nurses at a ceremony in celebration of National Nurses Week.

On Tuesday, Mayor Clarke Evans read a proclamation during the ceremony in the nurses’ honor officially making May 7 Nurses’ Day in Livingston.

The proclamation read as follows, “Whereas, the nearly 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States comprise our nation’s largest health care profession; and Whereas the depth and breadth of the nursing profession meets the different and emerging healthcare needs of our community’s population in a wide range of settings; and Whereas professional nursing is an indispensable component in the safety and quality of care of hospitalized patients; and Whereas the demand for registered nursing services will be greater than ever because of the aging of the American population, the continuing expansion of life-sustaining technology, and the growth of home health care services; Now, therefore, I, Clarke Evans, Mayor of the City of Livingston, do hereby proclaim May 7, 2013 as Nurses Day in Livingston and I encourage the citizens of Livingston to join me in honoring nurses who provide essential, compassionate care.”

Along with Mayor Evans, Interim CEO Earl Denning, Interim Chief Nursing Office Mary Kay DeGroot, Memorial Medical Center-Livingston Chief of Staff Dr. Souad Youssef and hospital board member Judy Cochran spoke words of thanks and encouragement to the staff who gathered in the Community Conference Center at the hospital.

DeGroot read the Florence Nightingale Pledge, a modified Hippocratic Oath which was composed in 1893 by Mrs. Lystra E. Gretter and a Committee for the Farrand Training School for Nurses, Detroit, Michigan. It was called the Florence Nightingale Pledge as a token of esteem for the founder of modern nursing.

“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully,” DeGroot read. “I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”

Throughout the week, members of the Memorial medical and clinical staff wore crazy socks and hats, showed their support for favorite sports teams and dressed up in clothes from their favorite decade. On Friday, the staff dressed in animal print in honor of the donations made to the Livingston SPCA.