This National Nurses Week, our Summit County community is tremendously grateful for all the nurses: those working to maintain essential services, those working on the front lines at the hospitals, and those in our Public Health department, responding directly to COVID-19 pandemic with surveillance, contact tracing, planning and policy. We are thankful for their care, their knowledge, and their services during the best of times, and we are especially indebted to them during this time of crisis. 


We thank the Public Health nurses, who are committed to preventing disease and protecting the health of our community. They provide immunization services for adults and children, blood pressure checks, pediatric vision and hearing screenings, and the Nurse-Family partnership program, which pairs first-time expecting mothers with an experienced nurse home visitor from early pregnancy until the child is 2 years of age. Our Public Health nurses have continued providing these services in the last two months, even while playing a central role in the community’s response to COVID-19. They are working with local health care providers to provide accessible testing, implement best practices for physical distancing, determine strategies to slow disease spread, and communicate with our community about health and safety during this challenging time. Our Public Health nurses are highly skilled health care professionals who translate their knowledge into interventions, programs, and advocacy – all actions for the public good. 

We thank the nurses at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, who provide our community and its guests with compassionate care year-round. On the Labor & Delivery unit, they help deliver and care for Summit County’s newest residents – and their mothers – no small feat at a hospital 9,000 feet above sea level. The Emergency Department nurses handle our community’s most seriously ill and injured, providing comfort and expert care during some of the most trying moments in the lives of patients and their families. On the Peak Care Unit, SASMC’s nurses provide round-the-clock care for all patients who require an overnight stay, or longer. They are an integral part of each patient’s physical, mental and emotional healing. And in the Surgery Department, our nurses work side by side with world-class surgeons to repair broken bones and other, often life-threatening, traumatic injuries. We thank St. Anthony Summit Medical Center’s nurses for being a constant presence in our community, both inside and outside the walls of the hospital. And especially now, during COVID-19, we are appreciative of their courage, commitment, skill and dedication. 


We thank the Summit Community Care Clinic nurses, who make it their priority to ensure patient care is provided in the right place, at the right time, and in the manner that best suits the patient’s needs. They believe that optimum well-being includes the treatment of the mind, body, and soul. The nurses work with a healthcare team to provide integrated services for any concerns that a patient experiences. They connect patients to community resources to make sure that patients are taken care of inside and outside our doors. Summit Community Care Clinic nurses contribute so much knowledge, positive energy and creativity throughout the clinic and in doing so, they keep our community healthy and thriving. 

We extend our deep thanks to all the nurses in Summit County, this week and every other week.