This morning on CBS News Sunday Morning, journalist and author, Sarah DiGregorio shared a message of support for nurses just in time for Nurses Week. Sarah’s much acclaimed book, Taking Care is being released on May 2nd. You can watch Sarah’s message below:

TAKING CARE

The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World

In this sweeping cultural history of nursing from the Stone Age to the present, the critically acclaimed author of Early pays homage to the profession and makes an urgent call for change.

Nurses have always been vital to human existence. A nurse was likely there when you were born and a nurse might well be there when you die. Familiar in hospitals and doctors’ offices, these dedicated health professionals can also be found in schools, prisons, and people’s homes; at summer camps; on cruise ships, and even at NASA. Yet despite being celebrated during the Covid-19 epidemic, nurses are often undermined and undervalued in ways that reflect misogyny and racism, and that extend to their working conditions—and affect the care available to everyone. But the potential power of nursing to create a healthier, more just world endures.

The story of nursing is complicated. It is woven into war, plague, religion, the economy, and our individual lives in myriad ways. In Taking Care, journalist Sarah DiGregorio chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of those today—caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly. An absorbing and empathetic work that combines storytelling with nuanced reporting, Taking Care examines how we have always tried to care for each other—the incredible ways we have succeeded and the ways in which we have failed. Fascinating, empowering and significant, it is a call for change and a love letter to the nurses of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. – retrieved from https://www.bookmarkshoppe.com/book/9780063071285

Thank you Sarah, I am looking forward to reading your book and sharing it with colleagues. Nursing has certainly reached an inflection point, we are in need of repairing many ruptured relationships, but no more than the ones within our own profession. Our power is our voice, one of our most underutilized resources. I appreciate your review of nursing, the good, the wrong, and the clear call for action. If there are to be nurses of tomorrow, we have to get it right today. Time is not our friend, we are in emergency mode and have been for far too long.

I hope that my school nursing colleagues will choose Taking Care as a book club choice!  If any of you do, please reach out and let me know how the book was received by your group.

The 2023 Nurses Week theme “Nurses Make a Difference: Anytime, Anywhere – Always.”