THE nursing profession is one of the most important in Guyana for several reasons: the most obvious is that it sustains and strengthens the health care system of the country and because it is a civilising force; it affords young women and some men an opportunity to express human compassion and kindness to those who are most in need of it.

If one visits the hospitals and health centres, one could see on the faces of the sick, the feelings of gratitude for the help and care accorded by the nurses.

The nursing profession in Guyana began to have a profile we could recognize only in the last quarter of the 19th century. Before then, most of those who practised as nurses were men who did the kind of clinical work women nurses now do. In addition, most of the druggists who ran drug stores throughout the country performed the duties of nurses and even doctors. Until recently, druggists were addressed as “doctor” by ordinary folk.

With the founding and development of public hospitals in Georgetown, New Amsterdam and to a lesser extent in Essequibo, the colonial authorities began to recruit female nurses. In Britain itself, nursing as an organised profession with predominantly females emerged only after the great and pervasive influence of Florence Nightingale and her heroic activities in nursing the wounded in the Crimean War of the early 1860s. The story of Florence Nightingale and her vast influence in creating modern nursing cannot be considered here, since our focus today is on the Guyana Nurses Association 90th anniversary.

In the colonial hospitals the Sisters who were responsible for administering the nursing segment of the hospitals, maintaining discipline and even training were recruited from Britain. These Sisters were all in the Florence Nightingale mold and were very knowledgeable and were strict disciplinarians. These British Sisters gave the profession a great prestige and the daughters of many prominent middle-class families entered the profession. But young women of other strata of society also joined the profession in even greater numbers and by 1900, the profession was recognised and respected. In these early days, admission to the profession was more searching. The tradition of professionalism and compassionate treatment of patients which the British Sisters brought has continued.

In June, 1928, the British Guiana Nurses Association was founded and it was the first Nurses Association to be established in the Caribbean. The association was comprehensive in its membership; it not only consisted of public health nurses, but its membership was open to all registered nurses and midwives and nursing assistants. Patient care assistants and retired nurses could also join as associate members.

The organisation was recognised by the colonial authorities and quietly began to make its impact felt in getting better conditions of work for the nurses. During the world’s economic crisis – The Depression- several Guyanese-American nurses returned home and associated themselves with the association, injecting a new spirit. Over the years, the nursing profession has maintained its standards and has kept abreast with all the modern developments, including advanced medical procedures and the use of information technology and the Nurses Association has been an integral part of these developments.

Qualifications for the profession have now partly migrated from the hospitals to the university and this now gives nursing a higher professional standing. The Nurses Association, in celebrating its 90th anniversary, had programmed a week of activities under the theme, “United Forces – Uplifting nursing – Celebrating 90 years with pride.”

One of the first celebratory activities was the reception hosted by His Excellency President David Granger at his residence. The President welcomed and congratulated the association and underlined his closeness to the profession by mentioning that his mother was a nurse and his sister is at present a member of the profession. He also remarked on the high quality of the Guyanese nurses and of the profession and said when his wife was ready for delivery in 1971, she chose the Public Hospital rather than any of the private hospitals, because of the quality of nursing at that institution. The President’s insight is well justified when one is reminded that Guyana-trained nurses are in great demand by the American hospitals.

Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, in her remarks on the occasion perceptively pointed out: “We can train a surfeit of doctors and specialists, but if we do not train twice as many nurses, we will not be able to enjoy the services we expect to enjoy.

Our nurses are the steel in the concrete, because at most times we do not see what they do, we only see what the doctors do.” The Nurses Association has successfully celebrated its 90th anniversary and the nation has renewed its feelings of goodwill and gratitude to the nurses. We congratulate them and look forward to the association’s centenary anniversary.