Submitted photo A team of nurses represent various roles within Davis Medical Center.

ELKINS – In honor of National Nurses Week, Vandalia Health Davis Medical Center Interim Chief Administrative Officer Dr. James Gainer is spotlighting the important role nurses play in healthcare.

Each year National Nurses Week is celebrated from May 6-12.

“They are the heart of the healthcare team,” said Gainer, who has been a practicing physician for the past 31 years. “They are the ones who show our patients care and compassion, and they advocate for our patients, which is such an important part. I’ve always felt like my nurses are a partner in care, whether it was at the clinic or taking care of folks in the hospital.”

Gainer said that nurses typically spend more time with and build a better rapport with patients than the provider does.

“The advantage we have here at Davis is that our nurses provide personal, local care. We are caring for our friends and family here,” Gainer said. ”

Gainer added that nurses wear many different hats and are more than just that person you see handing out medicine to patients.

“Nurses are all over the place in the hospital and they do a variety of roles that they do very well,” Gainer said. “They are the first face, the warm smile, and the warm touch that a patient receives when they come in for something. And it’s so important that nurses establish all of those things with patients.”

Nurses just don’t become nurses overnight. The work they have to do in college and in training is some of the toughest for any profession.

“Their schooling and training is very rigorous,” Gainer said. “All of them are very educated people and there are different levels of nursing, including LPNs, Registered Nurses, and Nurses Aides. For the most highly trained it’s typically a four-year nursing degree. And a lot of them will go on and get advanced degrees.

“It’s a competitive profession and nurses have to do well in their core classes as well as pass nursing boards to be able to practice. So it is definitely a rigorous academic program. And that’s what you want for folks who are taking care of you, whether it be nurses or doctors, you want them to be well-trained and educated.”

The origins of National Nurses Week began in the early 1950s as a time to recognize the contributions of nurses. The week-long celebration will conclude on Florence Nightingale’s birthday today.

“There’s a lot of time when they are working overtime, doing extra shifts, and doing some of the things nobody else wants to do,” Gainer said. “So taking a week to honor them is probably not enough. It probably needs to be a month, but at least for this week we can honor the nurses and give them the respect they deserve.”

Throughout the United States, food establishments and stores have been offering free or discounted items to nurses during Nurses Week. Cities across the country, including Elkins, have also signed proclamations to recognize nurses.

Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco gathered last week with a group of local nurses from the Vandalia Health Davis Medical Center, WVU Corridor Medical Center, and Elkins Rehabilitation & Care Center for a Nurses Week Proclamation signing at the Elkins Fire Department.