Nurses, Celebrated for International Nurses Day, Reflect on a Unique Year

It’s been quite a year for all health care professionals, and certainly in the nursing profession.

That makes this past week’s Nursing Appreciation Week, which concludes today with International Nurses Day, especially important as a way to look back and thank those who have sacrificed so much to take care of others over the past 12 months.

To mark the occasion, Rockhurst University recently visited several nurses working in a variety of settings — from nursing administration to a hospital to a school — surprising them with treats in appreciation for the work they do every day. Though a relatively small gesture, the surprise visits from members of the advancement office and Rock E. Hawk helped personalize the impact of alumni in the Rockhurst community on the nursing profession, both here in Kansas City and beyond. That’s never been truer than the past year, when Tim Peak, ’16, pre-op nurse at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, said the health care profession has been tested like perhaps never before. But to be part of that struggle has, for him, been an honor.

“I just love it, I love working here, being able to serve those underserved,” Peak said. “I love being able to be a resource for patients.”

Since 1979, Rockhurst University has offered nursing degrees, first through a partnership with Research College of Nursing, and most recently through the addition of Saint Luke’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences (which itself has over a century of experience in educating dedicated nurses). They combine for over 8,400 nursing alumni, a presence that continues to grow both through enrollment and in visibility on campus. In fall 2022, Saint Luke’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences will move from its Westport campus to a Sedgwick Hall transformed into a state-of-the-art nursing education facility as part of the $55 million For the Greater campaign.

Regardless of their education or under which institution they completed it, Peak and the others admitted that COVID-19 has changed both nursing as a profession and the people who practice it each day.

“I’ve done some lectures for nursing students, and I tell them, ‘No one is experiencing this like you will,’” said Jen Lombardi, ’94, hospital standards coordinator at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Working mostly behind the scenes, Lombardi said she still knows all too well how the pandemic has affected nursing. She’s reassured frightened patients getting tested for COVID-19 and heard the gratitude and excitement of those getting their vaccine. But she’s also seen the emotional toll that the long year has taken on nurses around her. She said she encourages nursing students to write down their experiences, both as a way to remember, and as a way to cope.

Elizabeth Polina, ’15, who along with Lisa Haggerty, ’94, is a nurse at St. Michael the Archangel High School in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, said she splits duties between the school setting and at a hospital. COVID has meant being flexible enough to change policies and procedures to keep patients and students alike safe. But through it all, she said she’s remained proud to call herself a nurse.

“It’s tough, I’ll admit it, nursing school is tough,” Polina said. “But it’s worth it in the end.”