DGMC marks Nurse and Technician Appreciation Week Published May 7, 2012 By 1st Lt. Jessica Scirica 60th Medical Group TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- David Grant USAF Medical Center will launch a week-long celebration Monday to honor its registered nurses and medical technician staff members. Scheduled activities under this year's theme of "Nurses: Advocating, Leading, Caring" include a display of school children's drawings of RNs and medics, a spa day combining massages and paraffin wax treatments and a luncheon on Friday afternoon. The week-long event wraps up with an ice cream social served by DGMC doctors and medical leadership, to include delivering desserts to night-shift personnel. Hosted at DGMC throughout the week, these activities are provided to celebrate the skilled and compassionate team members providing care for you and your loved ones. Annually, National Nurses Week begins May 6, marked as Registered Nurse Recognition Day, and ends May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of nursing as a modern profession. An essential part of the military health care team, the Air Force includes the recognition of medical technicians in this week-long observance. The purpose of this week is to raise awareness of the value of nursing and technician-care and help educate the public about the role they play in meeting the health-care needs of the American people. "Nurses and techs are in the thick of it," said Col. Jerry Lawson, 60th Medical Group deputy chief nurse. "Their job, their passion, takes them into life and death, illness and injury. Their hands are dirty, bloody and calloused from some of the hardest things that affect everyone - and that's taking people who are ill and injured and making them well." The need for capable and experienced personnel comes as no surprise when balanced with the fact that DGMC is the flagship hospital in the Air Force Medical Service and the Air Force's largest military treatment facility in the continental United States. DGMC provides care to a population of more than 500,000 Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs eligible beneficiaries. "The compassion and the hard work that I see just amazes me - and I've been doing this for 30 years as a nurse," Lawson said. "I am just awe struck when I see them every day...what they do -- how tired they get and still come back for more -- that is why I think Nurse/Tech week is important." Based on 2011 data, total patient encounters numbered more than 466,364 with an average day consisting of more than 1,568 outpatient visits, 58 Emergency Room visits with 14 ER admissions, 162 dental appointments, 2,297 prescriptions filled, 1.3 babies delivered, 1,650 meals served, 504 X-rays taken, 18 patients admitted, 10 Hyperbaric treatments, 17 operations, 55 daily inpatients and 1,671 lab tests conducted. Supporting such a large census requires the proficient team at DGMC to perform in various and flexible roles. A nurse can be found serving in positions such as nurse practitioner, flight nurse, educator, outpatient clinic or inpatient nurse and flight or squadron commander. Simultaneously, medical technicians can be found working as independent duty medical technicians, superintendents, in clinics or on inpatient wards, as instructors, or heading out to the flight line to pick up a wounded service or family member as aeromedical evacuation technicians. "One of my heroes, John Wayne, once said, 'Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway,' " Lawson said. "Nurses and technicians literally do that every day. That says it all. They are the most courageous people I have ever seen." "Do we sometimes rush past this week?" Lawson said. "We sure do. We get busy -- mainly because we get busy doing exactly what I said -- saving lives. So sometimes it's right just to take a minute and stop and be reminded that we need to say 'thank you.' Little did we all know coming into this field what a really big horse we were saddling up. So I want to thank everyone and let them know I appreciate them." With those words in mind, if you find yourself interacting with a nurse or medical technician this week, consider taking a moment to say thank you for the valued care they provide.