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USC to celebrate International Nurses Day
Nursing uniforms from the past 125 years will be paraded at the University of the Sunshine Coast’s annual celebration of International Nurses Day on Saturday 8 May.
More than 200 people are expected to attend the exciting “In My Day: Celebrating International Nurses Day” event, including past and present nurses, and nursing students from USC.
The students also will model more than a dozen nursing uniforms – dating back to 1885, the Boer War, World War I and II, from the early 1900s, and throughout the 1960s and 1970s – that have been made by Senior Lecturer in Nursing Dr Leonie Williams.
A large contingent of members of the War Widows Guild also is expected to attend the event, which is open to the public, will focus on nursing during World War I.
The Director of the United Kingdom’s Centre for the History of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr Christine Hallett, will be the keynote speaker.
This renowned international speaker will discuss “Containing trauma in a world of chaos: nursing work in the First World War”.
The nursing celebration from 1-5pm at the University campus at Sippy Downs will help mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Florence Nightingale, and will feature a variety of activities including tours of USC’s state-of-the-art teaching facilities.
Those attending will be encouraged to take part in video interviews – to record their memories and aspirations about nursing – and read some personal histories of Coast nurses.
USC’s Professor in Nursing Dr Margaret McAllister said the collecting and passing on of stories about nursing was vital to the profession’s future.
“It’s about narrative pedagogy – the power of story-telling to engage nursing students,” she said. “When a story is told well, you learn its lessons. And stories about nursing often consider professional values and what makes nursing a fulfilling career.
“If we tell our stories, we can gain a sense of how far the profession has come, and gain a sense of continuity as well. It helps gives nurses a professional identity so they feel they are part of something bigger.”
Professor McAllister said the “In My Day” event would help energise the region’s nurses.
“It will be a time to reflect and be proud of our job, to see that nurses have made a worthwhile contribution to society,” she said.
“And when we talk about remembering wartime heroes, I think nurses and doctors were among the biggest heroes. A lot of those who died in war were nurses and doctors who were often placed in very dangerous circumstances.”
For more information about the nursing celebration, contact Professor Margaret McAllister on (07) 5456 5032 or email <mmcallis@usc.edu.au>.
Information about the event is also on the USC website at <www.usc.edu.au/events>.
— Terry Walsh