…Dr Simone Rose faced mountainous challenges before completing studies

WHEN Dr. Simone Alexander Rose started her career in the health field 20 years ago, she hadn’t the slightest clue of the mountainous challenges and gruelling schedules that would come her way, but she persisted and made many sacrifices along her journey of successfully completing her studies and becoming a doctor.

Even Simone does not quite know what got her through some of those challenges, the main one being the death of her beloved husband, Lancelot Rose, who was diagnosed with a form of cancer just around the time that she was preparing to write an important examination and graduate from the Georgetown American university.

“Only God,” she reflected, gave her the strength to pull through. Otherwise, it would’ve had to be her love for the profession that kept her going.

“Seeing people come back to an optimum state of functioning has always brought me joy, even since I was a child. I love to see people getting better and the smile on their faces when they recover.”

Dr. Rose, 38, was born and raised in Linden and grew up in a single-parent home with her mom, Eutha Williams, and three siblings. Life back then was certainly not a walk in the park for the family.

“Everything wasn’t always bright and beautiful, but my mom did well with us,” Dr. Rose recalled

during an interview with the Sunday Chronicle. She started as a nursing assistant in 2001 and subsequently did the midwifery and professional nursing programmes. At this point, her fondness for the medical field had grown to a point where she could not stop there, and so she started to pursue medicine in 2015 and graduated Valedictorian from the Georgetown American University in 2019.

It was a bittersweet moment for her at the graduation as her husband had died just about two months before.

“He didn’t get to come and continue all the support he had given me over the 12 years that we had been together. He was always supportive throughout my career and just wanted me to do well.”

Mr. Rose received his diagnosis in May 2019 when the disease had already progressed to an advanced stage, and he died shortly after in September. At this time, Dr. Rose was in the height of preparing for her exams and graduation.

“That was very hard for me, but I finished all my exams and passed.” Perhaps the earlier rigors of her career aided Simone to handle things at this crucial point in her life. She explained that when she started medicine, she was working as a staff nurse midwife in Linden and had to travel to Georgetown every day for classes. For eight straight months, she would leave Linden in the morning, attend classes in Georgetown, travel back to Linden in the evening, and then make her way to work at the Linden Hospital Complex.

During this time, she was also a family woman who had to make time for her husband and daughter, Annalisa Barclay. “My daughter, being a national athlete and doing basketball internationally; I had to find time to be at her games.”

Dr. Rose would never settle for shortchanging her daughter in any way, and no matter what it took out of her, she adjusted her schedule to offer her support.

“I remember a day my daughter had nationals at the stadium and I had a pathology exam that same day. I went to school, took a break and went to the stadium, saw her do her jumps and so on; she won. I left there and went back to school, did the exam well – 96 per cent. I then went back to the stadium to see her do her other jumps and so on.”

Dr. Rose said she realised that although she was working hard for a better life for her family, she had to be there for her daughter because certain opportunities would never again present themselves.

“Sometimes it’s not easy. I had to split up myself. I knew I couldn’t bury myself in my belongings alone. Most of the time she would see me and smile and come and kiss me before going and do her events, so she looked forward for that support and I had to be there.”

Dr. Rose is now working as a medical intern at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), which means that she’ll be under the supervision of a seasoned doctor for one year, after which she will be allowed to practise independently. Words cannot describe the satisfaction that she feels today when she reflects on her life and tell herself that she made it despite everything.

“Being able to accomplish a dream and do what you love is a big accomplishment. It doesn’t matter where you start in life, once you have your aim and are disciplined. Don’t ever give up on your dream no matter how hard it may look; tell yourself that you will make it no matter what.”
Dr. Rose is grateful for the support that her family and friends provided to her over the years.