It is nearly impossible to adequately describe just how much a nurse means to the patients they serve. They are expert caretakers for sick patients. They are entertainers for a child who needs a laugh. They are a compassionate shoulder to cry on during life’s difficult moments. They embody what it means to foster hope, healing and trust.

Trish Baise, ECU Health Chief Nursing Executive
This year, May 6-12 was recognized as National Nurses Week, and I am proud to honor the 4,000-plus nurses serving here at ECU Health. It is always a pleasure to tell people about how impactful our nurses are, but their contributions go far beyond the limitations of words. To honor National Nurses Week, we decided to show how important our nurses truly are by hosting the first-ever ECU Health Walk-a-Mile with Nursing, where organizational leaders spent the day shadowing a nurse and fostering a deeper appreciation for all a nurse does in a single day at hospitals across the health system.
I want to share just a few of the most common words we heard during a roundtable discussion following the Walk-a-Mile event at ECU Health Medical Center: compassionate, caring, competent, eye-opening. The organizational leaders, many of whom don’t work primarily in the clinical setting, saw our nurses doing what they do best: exemplifying excellence and compassion in every way possible. From the ICU to the labor and delivery unit, and everywhere in between, it was a true joy to take folks behind-the-scenes to see who our nurses truly are.
The Walk-a-Mile event was the perfect way to kick off National Nurses Week and recognize the theme “Celebrating the Power of Nurses,” which acknowledges courage, resilience and unwavering commitment to patient care. I could not be more proud of ECU Health’s nurses, who embody our mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina.
In honor of the incredible contributions of all nurses, and particularly those here in eastern North Carolina and at ECU Health, I certainly encourage everyone to share a kind word or two with the nurses in your life. It can be a thankless job at times, and the value is better measured by the lives touched than the kudos received. Still, nurses everywhere deserve to know that their contributions are deeply appreciated.