It took three decades, but America finally realized that the contributions of nurses to the country deserved national recognition, which Whidbey’s nurses are sharing next week.

Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare sent a proposal to President Eisenhower in 1953 to proclaim a “Nurse Day” in October of the following year. The proclamation was never made.

Efforts continued. An observance in 1954 marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea. The American Nurses Association, which has supported the nursing profession since 1897, rallied its forces several times through the years.

Finally, in 1982, a joint resolution of the United States Congress designated May 6 as “National Recognition Day for Nurses.” In 1993 the ANA board of directors expanded nurses day to a week-long celebration, to begin May 6 and end May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale.

Here on Whidbey, nurses will be honored with events on May 8, when they can take even a small break from their full schedules. As in most other areas, said Trish Rose of Whidbey General Hospital, there is a nursing shortage.

“And the situation will only get worse as the nationwide average age for nurses continues to rise,” Rose said. “It’s important that we properly recognize and support these ‘healthcare heroes’ in our community.”

The island’s nurses have varying nursing specialties and work shifts that range from eight hours long in a clinic to 12 straight in the hospital’s emergency room.

Gwen Parrick of Freeland does both. An emergency room nurse at Whidbey General twice a week, Parrick also works on a per-diem call basis at Providence Medical Center’s ER in Everett. In addition, she works two shifts in the South Whidbey Community Clinic, co-located with Whidbey General South in Clinton.

“I love the ER,” Parrick said. “But it’s all adrenaline. And all adrenaline isn’t good for the body.”

Parrick, who has been an emergency room nurse for 25 years, knows the ER environment well. She started in Pasadena, Calif., at Huntington Memorial Hospital where, she said, she got her exposure to big city ERs. In 1990, she and her family moved to Whidbey.

“We loved the Pasadena area, but it became too chaotic, there was too much humanity,” she said.

But, even in a small, rural place like Whidbey, “ER is ER,” she said.

“There might not be knife fights and gun injuries, but there is still child abuse, heart attacks, strokes. And the highway is such a dangerous road. For a little hospital, we see a diversity of incidents.”

Her shifts at the Community Clinic is a way she can work full time and yet not burn herself out, she said.

“I still do the same things — blood draws, dressing changes, intravenous therapy — but it’s in a non-emergent situation, at a healthier and safer pace. I love the intensity level in the ER, but it’s very wearing. At the clinic I am still using my nursing skills without waiting for someone to come around the corner in full arrest.”

Many of the patients in ER are, of course, not in crisis.

“Access to health care is such a problem,” Parrick said. “More and more people are using ER because they have no insurance, or can’t get a doctor’s appointment. We’ll see them for illnesses and other medical conditions.”

That elevated use of the emergency room can lead to long waits for people coming in.

“We do the best we can to see everyone as fast as possible, but we don’t have total control. It depends on what’s going on,” Parrick said.

At Whidbey General, they’ve put television sets in non-critical rooms to help with the waiting, Parrick noted.

“And we try to let people know we haven’t forgotten about them.”

Parrick is a Certified Critical Care Nurse and a Certified Emergency Nurse. Both certifications require continuing education, something the state of Washington does not.

“But as a CCRN and a CEN I have requirements to maintain, to keep up with what’s going on in the profession,” Parrick said. She attends conferences that include workshops and seminars, networks with other nurses in other hospitals. She is enthusiastic about learning “what’s new and now.”

“Learning is lifelong,” she said. “It makes life a challenge.”

Parrick has learned ways as well to manage the stress of her work.

“Often after a particularly difficult time I’ll try to cope by talking with colleagues, disengaging myself personally,” she said.

Family is also vital. A wife and mother, Parrick calls her family “my rock of Gibraltar.”

And Parrick also continues to appreciate the quality of Whidbey’ lifestyle and its contribution to her personal well-being.

“Sometimes all I need is the drive up and down the island. It’s a period of time when I’m by myself. I’ve seen eagles hunting, and deer on the side of the road. It’s always a healing experience.”