Maureen O’Hara, RN, knew that Matt Wilgenbush was going stir crazy in the compromised host unit at Stanford University Medical Center after his bone marrow transplant.

To entertain the former teacher and triathlete, O’Hara delivered the sports section to him every morning, and sometimes she’d play backgammon with Wilgenbush after her shift. She even performed an Irish dance with another nurse for him.

"Maureen goes beyond the scope of what she has to do all the time," Wilgenbush said.

O’Hara is one of many nurses throughout the country who reflects the theme of this year’s National Nurses Week: "Nurses Are the True Spirit of Caring."

The ANA-sponsored theme week runs from May 6 through May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Festivities across the nation will highlight the efforts of nurses and will educate the public about the nursing shortage.

Nursing students at San Diego State University will wear shirts and pins with nursing logos as they staff booths that display information about options in the nursing profession. A representative from the California Nursing Students’ Association will visit local junior high and high schools to teach students about the profession.

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing will sponsor a luncheon to celebrate diversity in nursing.

Nurses invited to the lunch work with challenged client populations that include the homeless, the Hmong in Minneapolis and prison inmates.

Nurses at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle will assemble Mother’s Day baskets and departure baskets for residents at Hickman House, a women’s shelter.

Children’s Hospital of Michigan will sponsor a "Draw a Nurse Campaign." Nurses at the Garfield Neurobehavioral Center in Oakland, Calif., can look forward to catered parties during all shifts.

Ellen Pohl, RN, director of nursing, plans to bake lemon cake, host a raffle and give flowers to the nurses for National Nurses Week. "I have so much admiration for all of us who work with these residents," Pohl said. "It’s really a labor of love."

For nurses such as O’Hara, National Nurses Week also will be a time to remember why they have chosen their profession.

"I love caring for patients time and again, providing a sense of trust and consistency," O’Hara said. "They are a continual inspiration to me."