International Nursing Review

Congratulations to the International Council of Nurses (ICN) upon the relaunch of the International Nursing Review. I am pleased to serve as the Honorary Patron for ICN. Nurses have been essential in maintaining my health and preparing me for recovery. I am lucky to have an outstanding team of nurses without whom I could not live my daily life.

As somebody who unexpectedly became a member of a club I would not have wanted to join--the disabled--and as somebody who spent a lot of time in hospitals and has around-the-clock home care nursing, I know that nurses are the ones who really do the most for the patient.

The doctors come and go. They handle literally thousands of patients, and even though they have the overall responsibility, the person with whom you develop the rapport, the person who can give you the psychological lift the get through a day when you may be feeling bad, the person who has to assess moods, the person who has to become a friend, the person who has to be calm in an emergency, the person who has to make the patient believe in himself or herself is the nurse.

Nurses are really psychologists as well. They're the ones who help you face reality. You may see a professional psychologist once or twice a week, but you rely much more on the staff you work with every day.

I want to recognize the work of our nurses and thank them for their contribution in promoting good health in all of our communities. Millions of people around the world are restored to health and comforted in illness by the caring, compassion and expertise of nurses. Nursing is really a noble calling.

Christopher Reeve, a distinguished actor and director, has been a quadriplegic since his catastrophic injury that occurred during an equestrian event in 1995. He is Chairman of the Board of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and Vice Chairman of the National (US) Organization on Disability.