Dana Point : Emergency Nurses to Be Honored by City

In honor of Emergency Nurses Day, Mayor Eileen Krause will present a proclamation today to Vicki Sweet of Dana Point, who is president-elect of the Orange County Emergency Nurses Assn.

Krause is herself a registered nurse, whose professional career has included service as an emergency room nurse.

“Emergency nurses are vital to the community,” she said. “They have to make decisions about where a broken arm case will go and where a gunshot victim will go, making sure that both are treated the best possibly. These nurses are not well paid, but they save lives.”

Sweet said Dana Point’s recognition of Emergency Nurses Day is a tribute to all such nurses in the county.

“The Orange County chapter has 303 (emergency nurses), and it’s the largest chapter in California,” Sweet said.

“Emergency nurses are sort of the gateway to health care. We see patients as they first come in with illnesses and accidents, and we don’t have the luxury of being able to immediately see their health records,” she added. “So we have to be specialists--to be excellent--in all areas of health care.”