Limiteti Kupu is the oldest retired nurse in Tonga and her presence at a ceremony to mark the International Nurses Day yesterday was greatly acknowledged.
Her name and her age was mentioned in a statement released to the media today by Tonga Ministry of Health as part of its effort to remind the Tongan community the importance of supporting the work nurses do.
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.
“The International Council of Nurses commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses’ Day (IND) Kit. The IND Kit 2016 contains educational and public information materials, for use by nurses everywhere.
The IND theme for 2016 is : Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems’ resilience. The content of this year’s kit, including the poster image are posted here as downloadable documents for use by individual nurses, associations, health ministries and health institutions”.
A prayer service led by Rev. Sione Haukinima was held at Tonga’s largest hospital, Vaiola to mark the international day.
“Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 serving as a nurse during the Crimean War. She tended wounded soldiers and for that she gave nursing a high reputation and became an icon of the Victorian culture with the title The Lady with the Lamp,” Rev Haukinima said.
“Nightingale once said nursing is an art, and if nursing is to be made an art it requires devotion and hard work just like any painter’s or sculptor’s work. But dead canvas and dead marble can never be compared to the living bodies because it is the finest arts.”
