During Nursing Week each year, community newspapers across Ontario recognize and thank nurses. This year, to mark RNAO’s 100th anniversary, Metroland, which has publications across Ontario, included an in-depth article about RNAO’s anniversary in several special supplements, including one in the Hamilton Spectator (May 15). The association’s roots date back to 1901, when a group of Ontario nurses attended a nursing conference in Buffalo, New York. It was there that the idea for an Ontario nursing association began. “It’s important to remember how forward-thinking and proactive those first visionaries were during a very different era,” says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun. Nurses have been involved in helping to shape the profession and health care through the development of provincial standards for nursing, loan funds for financial assistance for nursing programs and advocacy for the first university-based school of nursing and baccalaureate degree. RNAO has always been an “influential and outspoken leader in support of the advancement of the profession,” Grinspun says. Visit RNAO’s 100th anniversary webpage for more on our rich history.