Each May 12, nurses all over the world take time to celebrate the birthday of Florence Nightingale and remember International Nurses Day.

Nightingale was a pioneer in the nursing field, ministering to wounded soldiers during the Crimean War in the 1850s. Her efforts reduced the mortality rate during the war drastically.

In Suffolk, we have thousands of our own “Nightingales” who gave up their choice of many arguably easier jobs to serve our community day in and day out. These men and women make the choice every day to work long, backbreaking hours, handle crises on a daily basis, and deal with people during some of the worst times of their lives.

Ann Pinner, a long-time nurse educator in Suffolk, is one of our Nightingales. Pinner never saw herself as a teacher, but has embraced the teaching of nurses as readily as she embraced nursing 35 years ago.

Pinner is only one of the many people we have to thank for our everyday health and well-being. To the thousands of nurses out there, we say, “Thank you!”