Red Swan Pizza and Boreal Healthcare Foundation helped mark Nursing Week at Victoria Hospital on Monday with a delivery meant to recognize the work nurses do across the hospital.
The company provided 1,000 pieces of pizza for Victoria Hospital nurses as part of a Nursing Week appreciation event in the Rawlinson Room. The delivery is part of Red Swan Pizza’s Pizza with Purpose program, which focuses on community support and recognition.
Red Swan staff could be seen bringing in large pizza bags filled with green personal pizza boxes, while nursing staff stopped in to pick up two boxes each. Nurses smiled as they came through the room, while Boreal Healthcare Foundation representative Andy Cohen helped guide staff, thanked them, and helped keep the delivery moving.
For Tina Stenske, an RN at Victoria Hospital who is presently working with digital health, the gesture was appreciated during a busy time for staff.
“We work hard throughout the year, so it’s nice to have that extra appreciation,” Stenske said.
She said nurses at Victoria Hospital are dealing with difficult conditions, including overcapacity pressures and more acute patients.
“It’s difficult,” she said. “They’re over capacity. They have a lot more acute patients, and so, yeah, it’s busy.”
Stenske said recognition from a local business shows nurses that their work is seen by the community. She said many people may not fully understand how demanding a nursing shift can be.
“It’s hard. You run off your feet for 12 hours,” she said. “You’re looking after a dying patient, but you’re also looking after patients that are screaming at you, and then you’re looking after really, really sick patients.”
She said those things can all be happening at the same time, making the work emotionally and physically difficult.
Tammy Gillison, manager of clinical services of obstetrics at Victoria Hospital, said Nursing Week gives nurses a chance to reflect on the profession and the role they play in people’s lives. Gillison has been a registered nurse for 32 years and said nursing becomes part of a person’s identity.
“It’s not just what you do; it’s who you are,” Gillison said.
She said nurses are involved in care from birth to end of life, whether that means helping with a new baby, responding during a crisis, caring for sick children, or supporting seniors through surgery and recovery.
“This week gives us an opportunity to really reflect on that and to recognize how vital nurses are to the system,” she said.
Gillison said small gestures of appreciation can help remind nurses that their work matters.
“It helps remind them that the majority of people support the work that they do, are appreciative of the work that they do,” Gillison said.
Andy Cohen, manager of donor engagement and communications with Boreal Healthcare Foundation, said the partnership with Red Swan Pizza came together after the foundation began looking for a way to recognize Nursing Week and Red Swan reached out.
“It kind of came out of the blue, and it’s been a happy little accident,” Cohen said.
Cohen said nurses work around the clock and are often on the front line of patient care, supporting patients and families through both routine and difficult moments.
“They’re running around this hospital around the clock, so just trying to fill their stomach while they’re on the go is the way to do it,” he said.
Cohen said community recognition can come in many forms, including financial, spiritual, and moral support. He encouraged patients and families who receive good care to share those stories with the foundation.
“We want to make sure that all your work and efforts don’t go unnoticed,” Cohen said. “We don’t want to do it just once a year with pizza.”
Rachit Shah with Red Swan Pizza said the business wanted to support nurses during Nursing Week because health care is an important part of daily life.
Shah said the Pizza with Purpose program is about helping the community and recognizing people who are doing good work.
“The Prince Albert community helped us for so long,” Shah said. “We have been in business six years, and that’s wonderful. And we just want to say thank you.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
