Each day, nurses in the community provide expert and professional care to patients at every stage of their life, from life to death. In recognition of this, The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is holding Nursing in the Community Week from 14-20 September 2020.
Nurses in the community, those who work in a wide range of areas outside of hospital settings, support people of all ages and are there to help from the beginning to the end of life and everywhere in-between. To highlight this, the week, which is proudly sponsored by Regal Home Health, centres around five key stages of life during which nurses support patients in the community:
- THE BEGINNING – Child, adolescent and women’s health
- NAVIGATING TWISTS AND TURNS – Injury, infection, mental health, sexual health, and drug and alcohol concerns
- CHALLENGES – Chronic illness and disability
- THE GOLDEN YEARS – Aging in place
- GOOD ENDINGS – End of life care.
Each category represents a unique stage of life where you or a member of your local community benefit from the expertise of a nurse. Together, they highlight that no matter where you are in life, a nurse is always where you need them most – in the comfort and safety of your own community.
The week is driven by the hard-working volunteers in ACN’s Community and Primary Health Care (CPHC) Community of Interest (COI), a collective which brings together nurses working in the community across Australia to network and advocate.
“Quite often we find that our community sees the nursing role as care of the sick in the hospital setting,” COI Chair Kitty Hutchison MACN said.
“Nursing in the Community Week is our opportunity to showcase and increase awareness of the variety of areas and the diverse ways nurses contribute to people’s health and well-being in our Australian Health Care System. We want people to know they have a choice about how and where they receive care. Know that you can always ask for #NursesWhereYouNeedThem.”
Head to the ACN website to learn more and register to receive for an awareness pack filled with useful resources to spread the word about nursing in the community. As an extra incentive, every registrant will also be automatically entered into a draw to win a $500 Woolworths gift card!
Be sure to keep an eye on our social media accounts over the next five weeks for special videos, NurseClick stories and a community-themed episode of The ACN Podcast with Ben Jenkins MACN. While you are there, don’t forget to share your thoughts with us on social media using the hashtag #NursesWhereYouNeedThem.
