We all know that there are very few people who work as hard or as tirelessly as nurses do.
They’re on their feet for hours at a time, caring for people emotionally, physically, and even spiritually when the circumstances demand.
They work long days and don’t always get the recognition they deserve, and do it all for the love of the job, as Miss Colorado confirmed in this heartrending speech.
Given all of that, we happen to think nurses more than deserve a few small creature comforts to ease the path.
Fortunately, someone else had the same idea, a young travel nurse named Aishleen O’Brien.
She came up with a genius solution for anyone looking for the perfect way to thank a hardworking nurse: a custom-designed gift box full of goodies that any nurse or nursing student would welcome with open arms, especially after a 12-hour shift.
She named her innovation the Nightingale Express, and it’s now available to ship anywhere in the United States!
Scroll through below to learn more.
According to Nurse.org, Aishleen O’Brien is a travel nurse of four years' standing who works with pediatric patients in need of cardiac care.
It’s a challenging focus to begin with, only made more complex by the fact that traveling nurses usually work on a rotation of roughly three months, spending 13 weeks in one clinic or hospital and then moving on to wherever they’re needed most.
The nonstop work of nursing in addition to four moves a year is a pretty challenging combination.
We imagine that’s part of the reason O’Brien was inspired to create a company that would look after the little luxuries that can help make a nurse’s grueling schedule just a little bit easier.
More to the point, she developed her company based on one question: What’s the best way to thank a nurse?
Anyone who has been through a hospital stay or watched a loved one go through that process has had an opportunity to ask themselves that question, and with Nightingale Express, O’Brien answered it.
Named after Florence Nightingale, considered by many to be the mother of modern nursing, Nightingale Express is a boxed gift order service. Customers purchase a box full of goodies to make a nurse’s life smoother, and it's delivered seamlessly.
Each type of gift box is named after a different important figure in nursing, from Florence herself to Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first African-American nurse…
And Clara Barton, who founded the Red Cross.
Each box is custom-curated and packed with thoughtful gifts, like cute hair ties to keep your hair out of your face on the ward, or a bath bomb to make your post-work relaxation more luxurious.
For O’Brien, the idea mostly grew out of her admiration and appreciation for the nurses she works with every day.
As she explains in the “About” section of the website, “As nurses, we spend countless hours caring for others, and sometimes, if even for a brief moment, we want to be cared for as well.”
And, as O’Brien researched how to say thank you to a nurse, she quickly discovered that there weren’t many obvious solutions.
She found plenty of cheesy sweatshirts and mugs on the internet, but not many options that she felt would really make a nurse feel cherished.
So she began to curate beautiful things, largely sourced from small business, that she knew would help nurses and nursing students relax after the long, grueling hours spent helping others.
Beauty products, candles, and small items of jewelry feature frequently, perhaps because they do a lovely job of showing that little gifts can make a huge difference.
Now, Nightingale Express is readily available online, and can be shipped anywhere in the United States.
With the holidays around the corner, this is a great option for anyone who knows and loves a nurse, and appreciates their hard work.
It's an equally great way for a former patient to say thanks to the kind nurse that helped them through a challenging time.
If you’re interested in buying one O’Brien’s beautiful bespoke Nightingale Express boxes, check out the website!
And don’t forget to SHARE this awesome gift idea with anyone that loves a nurse!
