The International Nurses Day is celebrated annually every May 12 in commemoration of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
In some countries, they continue to celebrate for a whole week. This year, the International Nurses’ Day’s theme is “Closing the Gap: Increasing Access & Equity” where the International Council of Nurses (ICN) made a statement that where health services are not publicly funded, the government has the responsibility to ensure accessible health services to vulnerable groups.
AYNLA celebrated with the rest of the world in this year’s International Nurses Day by making an online awareness campaign of the event through Facebook and Twitter. “We had some celebrities & personalities take photos with a slogan ‘I Love Nurses, Happy Nurses Day!’ then we posted their photos in our website and Facebook page so that our nurses can see that these celebrities & personalities took time to greet & support them. In twitter, many personalities retweeted our greetings too”.
Many known personalities greeted & gave their support to Filipino nurses celebrating the International Nurses Day among them who greeted in Twitter (they used the hash tag #NursesDay2011) are Ces Drilon, Camille Pratts, Agot Isidro, Gang Badoy, Gloc-9, Kat De Castro, Howie Severino, Princess Manzon & Tom Rodriguez, Leah Navarro, Mariz Umali and K Brosas. Some personalities who had their photos taken greeting the nurses were Jim Paredes, Pia Archangel, Tuesday Vargas, Carlos Celdran, Tintin Bersola-Babao and Lea Salonga. Even UN System Representative Jacky Badcock and UNFPA Country Representative Ugochi Daniels gladly had their photos taken and greeted all nurses.
Public officials and politicians also greeted nurses online among them are Former Reps. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and Ruffy Biazon, Reps. Kaka Bag-ao, Janette Garin and Edcel Lagman through Facebook, Senator Bongbong Marcos and former President Fidel V. Ramos. In his facebook page Sen. Marcos even gave his support to nurses and said “This noble profession deserves all the attention & assistance of government. I am committed to assist them in every way I can.”
Here are some of the photos we have taken.
H.E. Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Philippines
Ms. Lea Salonga, International Artist
Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay & author of the RH Bill
Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay & author of the RH Bill
Tuesday Vargas, comedienne
Visit Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International, Inc. here.
For more photos, visit The Nightingale Chronicles and the AYNLA website.