2020 is the World Health Organisation’s Year of the Nurse and Midwife, which coincides with 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale. Today (12th May) is also Nurse’s Day.

Each Thursday at 8pm, we hope you’ve been joining us to give all our fantastic NHS staff a standing ovation from the front doors of our homes. In these unprecedented times, it takes new innovative methods to say thank you.

Due to a badly-timed daily exercise a few weeks ago, I ended up being on a main road of terrace houses at 8pm. My heart absolutely exploded with pride, as out of the solitary isolation, burst forth individuals, families and couples, friends and housemates, squeezing as many faces into a doorway with wooden spoons and saucepans, voices, banners and smiles. I know in some areas of the country this has preceded singing or instrumental performances.

The community spirit cannot be silenced, and lockdown cannot contain the gratitude.

To mark this year of saying thank you, we’ve found a few nice things to share which may spark interest (or just be a nice and positive change from the news….)

The RCN (Royal College of Nurses) has put together this fantastic online exhibition, to give you a flavour of the history of nursing, which we recommend taking a look at:  https://www.rcn.org.uk/library-exhibitions/who-cares-emotions-in-nursing

You can read an open letter from The Duchess of Cambridge (Kate) to midwives, following her experiences shadowing and meeting staff and patients at Kingston Hospital – look here.

To find out more about why the WHO have designated this year, and to hear more from them, click here.

Click here to read the story of one of our CCCU recent graduates, Jesse, as he tells us about life as a Critical Care Nurse in a Kent hospital, working in Covid-19 ward.

We, as the Careers and Enterprise Team, are incredibly proud of all of our current student and alumni nurses and midwives (and all NHS staff and carers). It is especially at times like this we are reminded of the deep debt of gratitude we have for them in the work they do, the sacrifices they make including some moving out of family homes, and risks they take personally as they enter the workplace each day. Thank you to each one of you.

Getting further support from The Careers and Enterprise Team at CCCU

You can get ongoing careers support via the following ways:

• Email careers@canterbury.ac.uk
• Log onto the Careers and Enterprise Online Hub to access resources such as CV360, Interview Simulator and more. Our Live Chat function will be launching very soon!
• Register for GradForce if you are a final year student that wants to gain a graduate level job in the local area (Kent and Medway)