At history – making ceremony…
THE Guyana Nurses Assocation (GNA) hosted its seventh annual awards ceremony, last Friday, honouring 24 persons who secured   Bachelor of Science degrees and, for the first time ever, four with Master of Science degrees. Dean of the University of Guyana (UG) Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr. Emanuel Cummings said the occasion, in the GNA   Charlotte and Alexander Streets, Georgetown headquarters,was an historical event on the nursing calendar.
He said, even when the B.Sc nursing programme was first implemented, there were many who felt that the idea should be   abandoned because of a lack of facilities.
Quoting Nelson Mandela, Cummings said: “Everything seems impossible until it is done.”
Cummings said the programme has contributed to the intellectual nucleus in Guyana and, getting it started and keeping it   going was the essential rhythm of achievement and he wished the graduates well, in their personal as well as professional   lives.
Cummings expressed gratitude to St. Joseph College in Connecticut, United States (U.S.), which collaborated with UG on the   Master’s project.
UG Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lawrence Carrington lauded the graduates on their achievements and warned the nurses against   “the contemporary tendency” to change terminology to match the jargon of the commercial world.
He exhorted them to disregard the jargon, pointing out that it would be disastrous to have them see their patients as   clients and customers.
Carrington talked about the joys of being a tutor, noting that the true joy comes when they look at their students’ career   evolution and stewardship of their performance.
CARICOM Programme Manager, Dr. Rudolph Cummings, commenting on the effect of migration on the profession, posited that,   while there will always be related problems, a sufficient number of persons must be trained, so that they will be more   remaining in the country.
Continuing, he said there is need to increase the quality of pedagogy, by ensuring a higher teacher to student ratio.
On accreditation, Cummings hoped that, sooner rather than later, there would be a revision of relevant policies and urged   nurses to cherish their fraternity.
Reflection
Delivering the Valedictory Address, one of the four nurses with Master’s Degrees, Mandy La Fleur said graduation was a time   of reflection.
She traced the journey of herself and colleagues, from 2007 when they embarked on the course and recalled that it seemed   like an impossible dream when the group was asked to be “guinea pigs” of the initiative.
LaFleur said, in recognition of the fact that they were looked at by the world, the group got together and worked as a team   and she felt theirs was a collective achievement.
She disclosed that, although opportunities presented themselves to study overseas, they all planned to stay in Guyana and   serve their country.
La Fleur acknowledged that nurses are  valuable assets to the local health care system and efforts should be made to keep   them.
In conclusion, she encouraged all the nurses present to pursue the Master’s degree.
A number of tokens and trophies were presented for different achievements. A nurse from Region Six (East   Berbice/Corentyne), Muriel Moore received the ‘Outstanding midwife practising at a hospital in Guyana’ award. The honour   was introduced in 1996 by then Health Minister Gail Teixeira, who, while in that office, was concerned about maternity care   and sought to reduce the incidence of deaths in public hospitals.
The GNA awards ceremony commenced in the 1980s to recognise the outstanding contributions of nurses and their commitment to   the professional body.
There were some gaps in the hosting of it, until the advent of the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing at UG. Since the first   group of nurses graduated in 2004, the GNA has sought to ensure that the function is an annual feature with the graduates   being the central focus.