Honouring Our Nurses: 2020 Year of the Nurse

| Home Care

2020 année de l'infirmière

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Council of Nurses have declared 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the British nurse and social reformer who is widely viewed as the founder of modern nursing.

The campaign is a year-long celebration of the work of nurses. It’s also an opportunity to highlight the challenges nurses face, and to call attention to the need for greater investment in this profession.

In its campaign literature, WHO states, “In 2020 we celebrate the world’s 22 million nurses and 2 million midwives who make up half of the global health workforce – providing vital health care everywhere, as they have been doing for centuries.”

Nursing at Bayshore HealthCare

At Bayshore, nurses and the profession of nursing are at the heart of our company’s culture. For more than 50 years, nurses have been at the forefront of the care we provide in people’s homes and in communities across Canada. Nurses hold key positions in the organization, including clinical practice leaders, educators, informatics specialists, managers and Area Directors. Bayshore’s nursing leadership has contributed immeasurably to advancing our mission of being passionate and caring in everything we do and making a difference. Its impact is company-wide, making nursing excellence possible in the services we offer through home health branches, infusion clinics, specialty pharmacy, health-care navigation and other services.

“As Bayshore’s new Chief Nursing Officer, I am thrilled to be joining this accomplished team and at this extraordinary time – 2020 Year of the Nurse,” says Maureen Charlebois. “I worked as a home care nurse in the early years of my career, and I am very proud to see how nurses have advanced innovative person-centred care and evidence-based nursing practices here at Bayshore. Embracing our nursing profession will continue to provide the required leadership to guide us through ongoing change and innovation, just like Florence Nightingale did in her time.”

Today, over 4,000 nurses work at Bayshore, providing care to 350,000 patients annually. We offer nurses a wide variety of career opportunities across Canada, including positions with Bayshore Home Health (medical and non-medical home care and staffing services), Bayshore Home Care Solutions (government care programs), Bayshore Specialty Rx (specialty pharmacy, infusion and pharmaceutical patient support services) and Northern Nursing (health staffing relief to northern communities).

How we’re celebrating

To recognize our nurses during this notable year, Bayshore will be hosting employee events; producing quarterly blog posts and videos to share with our teams, our clients and their families; and asking clients to share how our nurses have touched their lives.

Learn more

“Nursing and midwifery” factsheet (World Health Organization)

Reconsidering nursing’s history during Canada 150 (Canadian Nurse)

Florence Nightingale – Mini-Biography (video) (History.com)

Bayshore Home Health offers a wide range of home care services to help Canadians live independently for as long as possible. Contact us at 1-877-289-3997 for details.