Nursing Week is an opportunity. Many people will take time this week to thank nurses, recognize what they have done, or simply to get to know what it is that we actually do. Depending where you are time is spent doing different things, from selling raffle tickets to bringing in pizza, cake, and coffee to nursing units. Often as nurses we take time recognize others or simply sit back and enjoy. However, Nursing Week is an incredible opportunity for explaining why nursing work is important, as my friend Suzanne Gordon says nurses save lives and do a of a lot more than simply "care" about our patients. During Nursing Week we have a captive audience and nurses need to take advantage of it.

Advocating for patients, medicare, and the profession can be done in a number of ways. You can consider writing an article to post online, submitting an editorial to a newspaper, or an interesting story from your organization to a journalist. One thing that the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario has been promoting is "Take Your MPP to Work Day". Inviting your local, provincial, state or federal politician to spend a day (or a few hours) with nurses is just one way to help them understand our work and our patients.

On Monday, 10 May 2010 MPP David Zimmer took time out of his morning to have breakfast with the RNAO Region 6 & 7 members. Hosted at the Free Times Cafe, nurses enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast, a short talk, and fantastic discussion with David Zimmer. It was a fantastic opportunity to give suggestions, raise issues, and share our questions. The morning was a fantastic success, and it was great to spend time with other nurses.