Celebrating Amazing Nurses, Teachers & Moms

Written by our Founder and CEO, the Celebrations Pulse letters aim to engage with our community. By welcoming your ideas and sharing your stories, we want to help you strengthen your relationships with the most important people in your life.

This week we honor three extraordinary groups of people – the ones who care for us when we’re sick, guide us to good health, teach crucial life lessons, and provide unwavering love and support. They’re always present despite sometimes being underappreciated.

Monday marks the first day of National Nurses Week and Teacher Appreciation Week. And, as if you needed a reminder, next Sunday is Mother’s Day.

It’s no coincidence that all three occasions occur so close together. The jobs of nurses, teachers, and moms all involve patience, self-sacrifice, and love for other people. In short, all three roles epitomize the essence of caregiving.

If you know a nurse, teacher, or mom, I’m sure you’re aware of how much effort they put into their work. Use your power this week to let them know how much you appreciate all that they do. And make a plan to keep doing so for the other 51 weeks of the year!

All-around appreciation

A few weeks ago, I invited members of our community to share stories of nurses, teachers, and moms to help inspire the week’s festivities. Your letters included moms who teach, nurses who are moms, and every variation under the sun. A few even included moms who are professional teachers and nurses!

While nurses and teachers are not exclusively women, with Mother’s Day approaching, I wanted to spotlight a few of the stories of Amazing Moms who are teachers or nurses to show how interconnected these roles can be.

For instance, Kate Lanoue's affection for children radiates not only in her capacity as a neonatal nurse practitioner but also as a devoted mother to five children, ranging from ages 7 to 17. She extends care and empathy to infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across multiple hospitals in Jacksonville, Florida.

When she’s not in the NICU, she’s nurturing her own family at home, approaching her role as a mom with the same level of seriousness and devotion as she does as a nurse. As she told me:

As both a mom and a nurse practitioner, I've experienced firsthand the challenges and fears that come with having a baby while working in the NICU, particularly since one of my own children faced their own health complications. This has motivated me to strive to be a source of comfort for families in similar situations, providing support during uncertain times.

Kate also said that her role as a healthcare provider has shifted her perspective on parenting.

I’ve witnessed the grief and struggles of families in difficult circumstances, and it has allowed me to prioritize and contextualize the challenges I face as a mother, recognizing that many issues are relatively minor in comparison.

A mom who goes beyond being a teacher

Becky Borree wears multiple hats as a media specialist and computer science/coding teacher at Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois. However, her influence extends far beyond the classroom.

She plays a pivotal role in shaping education within her community through her involvement with the Glenview Education Foundation (GEF), a non-profit volunteer organization that raises money to fund innovative pilot programs in Glenview, Illinois' school district. The role fits perfectly with her desire to balance work and family while helping the community, she says.

Now as chair of the GEF, she oversees everything from fundraising to grant approvals and events. “I like to tell people that we fund a lot of fun things that your child comes home excited and eager to talk about,” she says.

And that includes her own children. Becky’s fourth-grade son, Tommy, recently helped design a rain collection system for the school that would provide water for the plants in the outdoor classroom. And her seventh-grade son, Franklin, recorded a podcast with a friend in a sound booth that was built through a GEF grant.

An Amazing Mom helping teachers

Then there’s Daniella Vitolo, co-president of the PTA for P.S. 84Q, a public elementary school in Queens, New York. Daniella, a mother of four, not only serves on her local school board but also works two jobs, one as a retail merchandiser, and the other as a parent coach, helping parents with children with ADHD get the services they need from their schools.

The running joke is that my minivan is my office because I'm constantly in the car taking calls. But I don’t do it alone. We have a good network of people who support each other, so it really is all about a community of parents who step in and help each other.

The elementary school where she is PTA co-president, like other schools in the New York City area, is facing the challenge of integrating migrant families seeking asylum. It has changed the educational landscape and shown the need for more resources and support for teachers dealing with increased classroom sizes and workloads. 

Teachers are at the front line of these changes, and Daniella wanted to ensure they felt appreciated. She’s organizing a special event at her school after reaching out to businesses and the community for support:

For Teachers Appreciation Week, we want to show our 50 teachers a token of our gratitude by putting together a flower bar to let them know that they are valued. The teachers are truly selfless. They go above and beyond their jobs, and it’s the least we can do to show them how much we love them.

I’m proud to share that we are contributing floral arrangements to honor these teachers. Like Daniella, we feel it is the very least we can do to show our appreciation.

What you can do

The stories of Kate, Becky, and Daniella show how the roles of nurses, teachers, and moms are so closely related. They’re very special women as they take care of their families and the broader community.

Without the tireless efforts of teachers, nurses, and caregivers, our lives would lack the foundation of knowledge, health, and compassion that sustains us. So, take a moment this week to reach out and thank these incredible individuals for their unwavering commitment to making our world a better place. It’s not an overstatement to say that we would be lost without them.

All the best,
Jim