Holy Cross Health nurses Lisa Alward, Angi Dionne, Karla Davis and Ian Worley receive an Emergency Nurses Week proclamation from City of Deerfield Beach Mayor Todd Drosky, Vice Mayor Michael Hudak and commissioners Ben Preston, Daniel Shanetzky and Tom Plaut.
Emergency Nurses Week is October 11 to 17
October 12, 2026 – In advance of Emergency Nurses Week, Holy Cross Health received a proclamation from the City of Deerfield Beach at the city’s commission meeting on October 6.
Emergency nurses are the first line of defense in the health care system, providing lifesaving care to patients during their most vulnerable moments. This year’s Emergency Nurses Week theme highlights the resilience, expertise and unwavering dedication these professionals bring to local emergency departments every day.
“It is an honor for the City of Deerfield Beach commission to invite us to their meeting. This official proclamation means a great deal to our local frontline health care workers by helping raise public awareness of the critical role emergency nurses play in public safety and community health,” said Lisa M. Alward, BSN, RN, TNCC, SANE-A, Unit Base Nursing Council Chair at Holy Cross Freestanding Deerfield Beach Emergency Department. “On behalf of our council and my colleagues, I appreciate the time, leadership and constant support we receive from Mayor Drosky and Vice Mayor Hudak. The commission and Holy Cross Health both provide essential services to our community.”
For more than 70 years, Holy Cross Health has been serving Deerfield Beach residents, but never more so than now. In May, the new Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care — Deerfield Beach opened to provide care closer to home. Holy Cross Health will fill even more emergency nursing positions when Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care – Fort Lauderdale at Sunrise, which is currently under construction, opens in August 2027.
This year, Emergency Nurses Week will be celebrated from October 11 to 17 with Emergency Nurses Day on October 14. Emergency nurses care for patients on the worst days of their lives, and Emergency Nurses Week serves as an annual reminder to recognize the dedication, compassion and strength emergency nurses display, even in the most challenging times.
Since 1989, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) has recognized the second Wednesday in October as Emergency Nurses Day to honor emergency nurses for their commitment to patient care. In 2001, ENA expanded the celebration to devote an entire week to celebrating emergency nurses. For more information on emergency nursing or Emergency Nurses Week, please visit the Emergency Nurses Association at www.ena.org.
During Emergency Nurses Week and throughout the year, Holy Cross Health encourages patients and their families to show their appreciation for emergency nurses or any health care provider who goes above and beyond the call of duty and touched their lives by making a monetary gift through the Healing Heroes program, which honors exceptional service and advances Holy Cross Health’s mission of compassionate, patient-centered care. Each Healing Hero receives a special pin and a personal note of gratitude.
Donors may contribute any monetary amount they feel comfortable giving and direct their funds to an area of the hospital that means the most to them, including cancer, heart and vascular, orthopedics, neurosciences, Institute for Nursing Excellence, medical equipment and technology, or they can customize their donation. Learn more, make a donation and share a story of gratitude at Holy-Cross.com/HealingHeroes.
ABOUT HOLY CROSS HEALTH
A member of Trinity Health, Fort Lauderdale-based Holy Cross Hospital, dba Holy Cross Health, is a full-service, not-for-profit, Catholic, teaching hospital operating in the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy for more than 70 years. Holy Cross Health earned High Performing ratings for five Types of Care in U.S. News and World Report’s 2026-2027 Best Hospital rankings; received the American Heart Association’s Commitment to Quality award for achieving high performance across three or more clinical areas in the Get With The Guidelines® program for two years running in 2025 and 2026; received “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer” designation from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2026 Healthcare Equality Index; and received four out of five stars in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings for two consecutive years in 2025 and 2026. Additionally, Holy Cross Wound Healing and Hyperbarics program earned the 2025 Center of Distinction award by Healogics®, Physicians Outpatient Surgery Center at Holy Cross HealthPlex landed a spot on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers 2025 and Holy Cross Health Foundation is designated as a High Performer from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. Holy Cross Health was also named among the 2024 America’s Best-In-State Hospitals by Newsweek and selected as a Forbes America’s Best Employers for Healthcare Professionals in 2025 and 2026. Through strategic collaborations and a commitment to being a patient-centered, transformative and healing presence, the 557-bed hospital offers progressive inpatient, outpatient and community outreach services and clinical research trials to serve as the community’s trusted health partner for life. Holy Cross Health also includes the new Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care — Deerfield Beach, which opened in May 2026; Holy Cross HealthPlex outpatient facility; The Holy Cross Health Family Health Center in Oakland Park; urgent care centers; and more than 40 Holy Cross Medical Group offices, a multi-specialty physician-employed group of 200+ physicians providing services throughout Broward County. Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care – Fort Lauderdale at Sunrise is currently under construction and is expected to open in August 2027. To learn more about Holy Cross Health, visit holy-cross.com, and connect with them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
