Nurses’ Day in Argentina: November 21

In Argentina, Nurses’ Day is celebrated on November 21. It’s different from International Nurses Day, which is on May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

Why November 21

The date was adopted at the First National Nursing Congress, held in Argentina in 1935, in connection with the feast of Our Lady of Remedies (Virgen de los Remedios), named patron saint of nursing. It has remained the profession’s national day ever since.

What you can send to a hospital

This is the practical part, and it has its own rules:

• Ask first. Many units don’t accept flowers in inpatient areas. In a staff lounge or a nursing supervisor’s office, they generally do.
• One large arrangement for the break room or the nurses’ station works better than individual bouquets, which also leave out the next shift.
• Something to share. Facturas (Argentine pastries), a box of chocolates, a breakfast for the shift. It’s what’s appreciated most in a unit where twenty people work in rotation.
• No strong scent. A general rule for any healthcare setting.
• Time the delivery with the shift change, when the most people are there.

Which flowers

Bright, cheerful colors — gerberas, sunflowers, mixed bouquets — rather than formal white arrangements. An arrangement in a base with floral foam is the right format: it doesn’t need a vase, it doesn’t tip over, and it doesn’t make work for anyone.

A note

This is a date when the individual gesture carries more weight than the corporate one. If a nursing team cared for someone in your family, sending something with a note that names what they did is worth infinitely more than an institutional bouquet. And it reaches people who almost never receive written thanks.

The general approach for sending to healthcare facilities is in flowers for someone who is sick or recovering.