by Matt Konkle
Quadratec Channel Editor
While many of us have been homebound for nearly two months, helping to slow the spread of COVID-19, our nurses across the country are right on the front lines fighting back against that virus. They work relentlessly to help treat patients diagnosed with coronavirus complications, and their willingness to report for duty in such high-risk conditions is amazing.
We really can’t thank nurses enough, but today, on National Nurses Day, we celebrate Jenn Whitehouse, and every other nurse across the country that has put in countless hours, risking their own health, to take care of others.
Whitehouse, an avid Jeep lover, has been an ER Nurse at the Bayhealth Emergency Center in Smyrna, Del. for seven years. She has also worked at the nationally recognized AI DuPont Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Del.
“I don't think any of us expected COVID-19 to have such a huge impact on our daily lives. It has been scary being on the front lines,” Whitehouse said. “But we all view it as our duty to help people affected by the virus and we do it proudly. The community has been so kind & supportive, and while this has been stressful, it has been so nice to see people supporting each other.
“I am hopeful that we have seen the worst of it.”
Whitehouse, understandably, hasn’t had much chance these days to spend around her Jeep—a 2014 Wrangler Unlimited Altitude Edition—but she does love taking wheeling trips to Rausch Creek Off Road Park a few times a year when she can. She has also made a few modifications to the vehicle, including a 2.5” suspension lift kit and 35” BFGoodrich tires.
“It is always a great time (wheeling) at Rausch Creek,” Whitehouse said. “I've been to Topless for Tatas the past five years and have always had a great time. My family and friends love to tease me because I am known to shine it up before wheeling.”
National Nurses Day marks the first day of National Nursing Week, which concludes on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The week was first observed in the United States in October 1954, to mark the 100th anniversary of Nightingale’s pioneering work in Crimea.
Twenty years later, in February 1974, President Nixon proclaimed a National Nurse Week to be celebrated annually in May. Over the next eight years, various nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association (ANA) rallied to support calls for a ‘National Recognition Day for Nurses’ on May 6, which was eventually proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
