Nurses Join Together to Celebrate Global Health and Healing

December 28, 2009

 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Nurses from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are hosting a kickoff event called “Celebration of Caring” on Friday, Jan. 1, part of the 2010 International Year of the Nurse.

The new year marks the centennial year of the death of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing. The “Celebration of Caring” will take place 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the J. Paul Sticht Center Auditorium as part of The Million Nurse Global Caring Field Project sponsored by the Watson Caring Science Institute (WCSI). The idea is to radiate a field of worldwide energetic caring consciousness for global healing and health by simultaneously connecting with a million nurses or more around the globe.

At Wake Forest Baptist over the past two years, nursing has been rolling out a professional practice model based on a theory developed by internationally-known nursing theorist Jean Watson, Ph.D. The idea is to provide a caring and healing environment for patients so they can be actively involved in their own care. Watson, who began her nursing career at N.C. Baptist Hospital as an OR nurse, developed the theory of human caring philosophy that is used worldwide to guide transformative models of caring and healing practices for nurses and patients alike.

“We are excited to offer our “Celebration of Caring” event to our nurses and invite all nurses and health care professionals to come and be a part of this special event,” said Maureen Sintich, M.S.N., M.B.A., R.N., vice president for operations and chief nursing officer at Wake Forest Baptist.

The 2010 Year of the Nurse initiative, designated by the United Nations, seeks to recognize the contributions of nurses globally and to engage nurses in the promotion of world health. It’s a sustained public awareness initiative to actively involve the world’s nurses — estimated to be more than 15 million — in a celebration of commitment to bring health to their communities, locally and worldwide.

For more information about the event, please call(336) 713–2251.

Media Relations

Bonnie Davis: bdavis@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-1597

Mark Wright: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587