News & Events

During National Nurses Week 2020, MNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Launch Video Campaign to Thank Public and Urge Social Distancing

The work of essential personnel and the sacrifices of the public have helped flatten the COVID-19 curve, with much work ahead

MNA members issue public service announcements of appreciation and request continued social distancing – see nurse videos from different MA regions at the bottom of this release

CANTON, Mass. – Today, as the nation celebrates National Nurses Day and the beginning of National Nurses Week, the nurses and healthcare professionals of the Massachusetts Nurses Association have launched a video public service announcement campaign to thank the public for their support and to urge the continuation of social distancing during this unprecedented public health crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic – which is requiring great sacrifices of frontline healthcare workers, other essential personnel and the public – has come during the “International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife,” as proclaimed by the World Health Organization in honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. Her birthdate of May 12 marks the final day of National Nurses Week each year.

“While nurses and healthcare professionals have been battling COVID-19 in hospitals and healthcare facilities across Massachusetts, countless individuals have given their all to defeating this pandemic in many other ways,” said RN and MNA President Donna Kelly-Williams. “During this National Nurses Week, we thank everyone who is doing their part and ask for continued help so we can provide every patient the level of care they deserve.”

Nurses on the front lines of the pandemic in every region of the Commonwealth have recorded public service announcements. These are on the MNA YouTube channel (see below) and will be shared with the public through Facebook and other social media during National Nurses Week. Please contact the MNA at dschildmeier@mnarn.org, jjohnson@mnarn.org or jmarkman@mnarn.org to arrange an interview with a nurse in your region.

Links to Nurse PSA Videos

 

Diane Lane Cormier, RN, Foster Wing (Progressive Care)

HealthAlliance Hospital, Leominster

Video: https://youtu.be/htSjhJINnbU

 

Debbie Falk, RN, Emergency Department

St Luke’s Hospital, New Bedford

Video: https://youtu.be/w43iLktrOU8

 

Steven Gill, RN, Intensive Care Unit/Telemetry

Lawrence General Hospital, Lawrence

Video: https://youtu.be/sqf__luvAV8

 

Samantha Joseph-Erskine, Emergency Department

St. Luke’s Hospital, New Bedford

Video: https://youtu.be/iI_7-jEYs58

 

Suzanne Love, RN, Emergency Department

Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield

Video: https://youtu.be/Otdo0shI058

 

Katie Murphy, RN, Special Pathogens Units

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston

Video: https://youtu.be/0sKgkU2aIFE

 

Dan Rec, RN, Intensive Care Unit

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Jamaica Plain

Video: https://youtu.be/7vVyvsnEJ_s

 

Marie Ritacco, RN, Recovery Room

Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester

Video: https://youtu.be/7DDn2gUmN4E

 

Karla Robles, RN, Johnson 3 (Adult Medical)

Beverly Hospital, Beverly

Video: https://youtu.be/Ixh1M0l_Lxc

Spanish Version: https://youtu.be/xMcuZRMziQE

 

Shannon Sherman, RN, Emergency Surgery

Cape Cod Hospital, Barnstable

Video: https://youtu.be/C4k4w5o43S4

 

Nicole Tanner, RN, Critical Care Unit

Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital

Video: https://youtu.be/yaH-EVTkwv0

 

See MNA COVID-19 information, including letters to Gov. Baker, position statements, videos and more at www.massnurses.org/COVID-19.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.