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Nurses Helping Nurses

to Heal Each Other

and the World

There are approximately 27.9 million nurses worldwide and the majority of health care providers (59%) are nurses (WHO, 2020). We hope that this organization will allow nurses across the globe to use our collective “power in numbers” to help each other during times of crisis and also when things are going well. As nurses, we individually work to improve quality of life for our patients every day. This organization was formed to provide an opportunity for individual nurses all across the globe to connect, share knowledge and do what we can to collectively help heal each other and the world.

It is more important today than ever before for nurses to be able to help each other. Individually and collectively, as we face crisis after crisis after crisis.

The COVID-19 public health emergency has ended as of May, 2023, but COVID-19 has not disappeared. The many variants will continue to emerge and cause widespread illness and deaths for the foreseeable future. We desperately need to learn from the devastation caused by this out of control pandemic to help prevent future outbreaks.

As of the end of July 2023, the COVID-19 virus that was first identified in the last days of 2019 had claimed the lives of 6,953,743 human beings worldwide (WHO Coronavirus dashboard), with over 1.1 million deaths in the United States (CDC COVID-19 data tracker).

By the end of June, 2023, there had been over 2,752,931 recorded COVID-19 infections in U.S. healthcare providers.

5,906 U.S. healthcare providers died of COVID-19 infections by the end of June, 2023, see figure 1.

There is no way at this time to know how many nurses are living with unresolved long COVID-19/ post COVID-19 symptoms.

Nurses worldwide are struggling emotionally, psychologically and physically to cope with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and so many other traumas. The OTHER challenges that nurses regularly face were not put on hold during the public health emergency!

As nurses we are also challenged to care for the victims of violence perpetrated by human beings on others. Such care is provided not only to the victims of violence, but extends to the survivors of those who died. Caring for victims of senseless violence and their loved ones takes both an emotional as well of a physical toll on nurses and other healthcare providers no matter how hardened they try to be.

Many nurses and their patients face atrocius conditions, in war torn countries, in refugee camps, in prisons, and in overloaded hospitals and other settings where it is a struggle to care for overwhelming numbers of patients.

There are countless nurses practicing in countries where armed conflicts interfere with the ability to provide care, jeopardize nurse safety, deplete supplies, and cause needless death and disability. Facilities/ hospitals and other settings may be damaged or destroyed, equipment may be unusable, and travel to care facilities may be impossible. For nurses in these situations, their very lives may be endangered and/ or they may have had to flee their countries as refugees.

In addition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there are at least 26 other armed conflicts – most of which are long standing – throughout the world. These include civil wars (and ethnic group genocide), territorial disputes (often focused on controlling strategic resources such as oil and gas), and political instability caused by armed militias and terrorist groups (Council on Foreign Relations, 2022, February 25).

There are millions of global citizens who have been displaced by these conflicts who are trying to survive as refugees. There are millions of children who have never in their entire lives had the opportunity to meet basic human needs such as clean water, stable food sources, a warm bed to sleep in while sheltered from the elements. There are also countless kids who are homeless or orphaned in unstable countries as well as countries with the highest development.

This organization is intended to allow nurses to give voice to these concerns and to help each other to find potential solutions.

Please join us as we work together to envision and create a better world. A world where humans and other earthly beings will not only survive but thrive. A world where clean water, nutritious food and fresh air are available to everyone. A world where racial, ethnic and socioeconomic inequities no longer result in stress related end-organ damage, chronic disease and years of life lost. A world where all children are loved and nurtured and safe.

References:

Council on Foreign Relations (2022, February 25). Global Conflict Tracker. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/?category=us

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023). COVID data tracker. Data update for the U.S. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023). COVID data tracker. Cases and deaths among healthcare personnel. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#health-care-personnelx

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) (2023). COVID-19 Long term care facility module. https://data.cms.gov/covid-19/covid-19-nursing-home-data

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2019). Global study on homicide. https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet1.pdf

World Health Organization. (2020). State of the world’s nursing 2020 executive summary. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331673/9789240003293-eng.pdf

World Health Organization (2021, September). The impact of COVID-19 on health and care worker a closer look at deaths. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/345300

World Health Organization (2023). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/