May 8th to 14th is National Nurses Week and you should take the opportunity to give all the nurses you know great big hugs in honour of their tremendous, selfless work to keep us healthy.  

At Airdrie's Urgent Care centre that recently moved to 24 hour a day, seven day a week care, Virginia Wheeler and Nicole Simon are just two of the many nurses who work hard to keep Airdronians healthy.

Wheeler is an RN and the Manager of Urgent Care in Airdrie.  Wheeler says she's been in the profession for "a couple years now, 26 in total."  She says she never planned to become a nurse.  "Everybody was a teacher in my family.  I think it was having a family member sick in emerg and just seeing that environment, I thought, I would love that.  Just the thought of being able to care for somebody and make somebody better just prompted me to go into nursing."

Wheeler says in 26 years of being a nurse, many things have changed, but one thing she misses is having more time to spend with patients.  "I think the patient loads are bigger and you don't get to spend as much hands on time as we probably did when I was recently graduated.  You could spend a little more time, you had a few less patients, you didn't feel so run off your feet.  So it's kind of a balance, there's just more people and you have to see them. The bath washes just don't happen in the hospital anymore like they used to.  It's a shame to see that go but, patients are sick and they need care."

For Wheeler, the supervisor's role that she's recently taken on is one she really enjoys. "Part of it is because I was a floor nurse just recently.  I've been working beside these people.  I feel like I'm in a role where I can advocate for Airdrie,, because I live here, for the people that work here, because I've worked here and I feel like I have a good grasp of what it's like.  I'm able to be a balance between to try to get the best care for Airdrie as well as the best care for the staff that are working here."

For Simon, an LPN at Urgent Care whose been in the profession since 1997, the camaraderie with other people is what she loves about being a nurse in Airdrie.  "When you're with a group and things are going well, if there's a critical situation you feel like you work well together and the outcome is positive."

Simon says there are ups and downs as a nurse, but she believes in taking the good with the bad.  "You have good situations with patients and sometiems you have bad ones.  I just look as it as an overall, this is what I do and I enjoy doing it."

Simon says in the short time that Urgent Care in Airdrie has been open around the clock, she's seen the benefits.  "I don't have to do night shifts right now as an LPN, I'm a 12 hour day shift kind of person, but I do see the benefits.  We do see a lot of people coming in on nights. I came in this morning at 7:00 and I think almost every bed was full, so there was that need before 7:00 in the morning to have health care available in Airdrie."

This week is the week to celebrate and honour nurses for doing what they do 52 weeks of the year.  

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