Care without judgement and best care everywhere. That’s what the nursing profession is about; we care for everyone and advocate for health equity, diversity, and inclusion for all people. The past several years have brought attention to the fact that as a country, we are still facing a divide where race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and health equity are concerned. Weekly, and sometimes daily, we see the division in the news, or we witness it firsthand. Where is our humanity? According to the dictionary, humanity speaks to those attributes that make us human such as the ability to have compassion, love, and care for one another. From where I sit, humanity is lacking right now. We must do better.

Every day as nurses we care for people of all colors, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic classes, and with different beliefs or morals than our own. Our mission is to provide care regardless if the person thinks, looks, or believes as we do. We combine the art and science of nursing and healthcare and our own humanity to improve the patient’s outcome, ease their burden and demonstrate that we are ready and willing to care. We are the patient’s advocate when they are struggling to let their desires be known and when their voice is silent because they cannot speak. As a profession we are bound to do no harm and we readily step up to protect our patient’s when no one else will.

June is Pride Month. As a profession, it’s our obligation to support and care for our LGBTQ+ patients and ensure they receive care without judgement and best care everywhere. Everyday we need to fight for inclusivity, diversity, and health equity in our communities. The people in our communities become our patients and they need to know nurses will be supporting them throughout their life journey. We are all different; we need to respect and support those differences and realize they make humanity stronger.