 National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday. Nightingale is considered the founder of nursing and as a nurse in the front lines of the Crimean War, she instructed hygiene protocols and other measures that drastically reduced infections and deaths in battlefield hospitals. This year's theme is unified, reliable and ready. This week-long celebration raises awareness of the value of nursing and helps educate the public about the role nurses play in meeting the health care needs of our patients throughout the Air Force. Today, we especially recognize the impact of nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic where wide-run nurses and medical technicians, just like Nightingale, have been on the front lines protecting, promoting and advancing the health and safety of the 31st Fire Wing. For over a year, our nursing staff has dedicated themselves to screening, testing and vaccinating a wider nation to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. Today, our nurses have performed more than 5,000 COVID nasal swaths and given over 6,000 COVID-19 vaccinations. Our nurses and technicians are truly dedicated to the control of this disease. Air Force nurses have a minimum of four years of study, which requires extreme focus and dedication. At present, the Air Force Nurse Corps has just over 2,800 nurses on staff. You can find them in clinics like Family Practice, Pediatrics, Warrior Medicine, Flight Medicine, as well as in the operating room, emergency departments and intensive care units, and other specialty settings such as aeromedical evacuation. We also have nurses that go on to earn their advanced practice degree and serve as nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists. Air Force medical technicians are trained to an EMT level and some go above and beyond to obtain their paramedic licensure. Beyond that, you will find a medic in every clinic throughout the hospital from surgical teams to neurology and from allergy immunizations to flight medicine. We even have aeromedical evacuation technicians who transport our wounded to higher echelons of care, as well as independent duty medical technicians who function as the only enlisted healthcare provider in the AFMS embedded within operational units. In addition to being caregivers, nurses and medical technicians are also patient advocates, healthcare administrators, educators, researchers and clinic leaders. From assisting in life-threatening crises to delivering routine care, nurses and medical technicians provide the crucial link between patients and doctors. This week we proudly celebrate the contributions of all nurses and medical technicians in the 31st Fighter Wing who have answered the call to care for the lives of the sons and daughters of America and who have taken their place in the long line of distinguished members in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps. Happy Nurse Tech Week, Wyver Medics!