“In 2020 we clapped from balconies. In 2023, they’re still wearing trash bags in some hospitals.”
— Wing

It’s May 2023. National Nurses Week again.

The hashtags are back. The HR newsletters. The “thank you” banners with softly lit group photos.

But if you talk to an actual nurse today—really talk to one—you’ll find something sharper beneath the surface: fatigue, anger, and the quiet ache of betrayal.

🏥 Flashback to 2020

Remember those first weeks?

  • Homemade PPE.
  • Nurses sleeping in cars to avoid infecting family.
  • Zoom calls with dying patients.
  • Viral TikToks from break rooms used to process trauma.

It felt like the world saw nurses clearly, maybe for the first time.

Politicians promised reforms. CEOs posted black squares and thanked “our heroes.” There was talk of hazard pay. Staffing ratios. Mental health support.

📉 And Now?

  • Most hazard pay disappeared within months.
  • Staffing ratios remain brutal—worse in some regions.
  • PTSD and burnout spiked. Many left the profession.
  • Those who stayed? Often feel forgotten.

AI models can write discharge summaries now. But they still can’t hold a patient’s hand while a ventilator pumps in the corner. That part—the human part—was never upgraded.

💊 The Lipstick on the Mask

In 2023, hospitals posted celebratory social content during Nurses Week while simultaneously slashing budgets and merging departments.

Some nurses receive coupons. Others get pizza parties.

What they don’t get?

  • Adequate rest
  • Protected staffing levels
  • Long-term trauma care
  • A guarantee it won’t be just as bad next time

🧓 Wing’s Retro Take

In the old days, we sent mixtapes and thank-you notes. It meant something because it cost time. Effort.

Now? You tap “❤️ Appreciate our nurses!” and scroll to the next dopamine drip.

We moved on.
The system didn’t.
And nurses? Most didn’t have the luxury of forgetting.

💬 Know a nurse? Check in on them.

Not with a meme. Not with a corporate hashtag.
Just ask them how they’re really doing.

Then maybe—just maybe—we’ll start to deserve them again.