Letter from Margarita

Dear Nursing Supporter,

If you have ever been cared for by a UC San Diego Health System nurse, you can appreciate why we celebrate National Nurses Week every year.

Every health care professional and staff member at UC San Diego Health System is vital to providing the high-quality patient care that you expect from us. But our talented nurses work on the front lines every day. As our largest workforce, these compassionate and dedicated caregivers are essential in meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each of our patients. Through community volunteerism and leadership, UC San Diego nurses also mentor the next generation of nurses and health care professionals.

Without question, they are among the reasons we have received so many accolades, including being named one of the top 15 major teaching hospitals in a recent Thomson Reuters survey of 3,000 hospitals throughout the nation. Today, our nursing department is on an important journey toward Magnet recognition through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This designation will showcase our excellence in nursing and provide UC San Diego Health System with important tools for teaching and employing successful nursing strategies.

I am so deeply grateful to each one of our nurses (all 1,600 of them!) – and that’s why I am excited to take part in the 2011 National Nurses Week, from May 6-12. This Health-System wide celebration features special meals, educational seminars and community outreach. It will culminate with the Nursing Excellence Awards Ceremony, where we will announce our Nurse of the Year and present several scholarship awards. Nurses Week is a unique opportunity to promote a positive, realistic image of nurses and the nursing profession, to create awareness about nursing at UC San Diego Health System and to further engage our community.

I invite you today to join us in honoring all of our nurses, or a special nurse who has touched your life, by making a gift through our CARES (Clinical Advancement & Recognition of Excellence in Service) Program.

Your gift can support the Patrons of Nursing Fund, which provides support for continuing nursing education. Through higher nursing degrees, certification, conferences and research, the Patrons of Nursing Fund allows nurses to actively pursue training to improve their crucial role as health care providers. While we are very fortunate to have strong financial support for many of our programs at UC San Diego Health System, we receive less than 2 percent of our funding from the State of California, all of which is allocated to clinical teaching. We rely on the support from friends like you to help our nurses remain at the forefront of the dynamic field of medicine. 

To join in the celebration, please click on the “give now” button below, or on the nursing website, http://medinfo.ucsd.edu/nursing . If you wish, you may include a personal message. We will send a letter to inform each nurse you recognize that you have a made a National Nurses Week gift in his or her name.

Thank you for your heartfelt generosity,
Margarita Baggett, R.N., M.S.N.
CNO, Chief Nursing Officer