The curtain came down on Nurses Week 2019 in Region Four with the handing out of awards for Nurse of the Year and the Regional Health Officer’s (RHO) Special Awards and Appreciation Awards.
According to a Region Four release, the awards were presented at a fun day event held at the Better Hope Community Centre and was attended by a number of nurses from the health centres and two hospitals in Region Four.
Yelena Doodnauth of the Melanie Health Centre and Fazia Bacchus of Timehri Health Centre were adjudged as the Nurses of the Year for their respective areas of East Coast and East Bank.
The RHO’s Special Awards were given to Senior Health Visitor for East Coast, Iona Barker-Wickham; Senior Health Visitor for East Bank Joyce Phillips and Matron of the Diamond Diagnosis Hospital, Sister Sabrina Phillips.
Nurse Aletha July of Kuru Kururu Health Centre and Nurse Sedel Blake of Diamond Diagnostic Centre won the RHO Appreciation Awards for Outstanding and Continuous Support.
The Senior Health Visitors expressed their thanks and appreciation to the RHO of Region Four, Dr Quincy Jones, who was described as being inclusive, cooperative and helpful and having a charismatic approach to issues within the region affecting nurses.
Phillips in her comments, stressed that the region will continue to be a better place because of the level of commitment being demonstrated by nurses. She declared that the general public can be assured of quality care from the nurses reminding the nurses that their actions are always being watched, thus she wants them to continue the good service.
“Don’t be deterred by challenges or difficulties but remember that you chose this profession to give of your best and I urge you to continue that trend as we are certainly proud of the service that you continue to deliver the best always,” Phillips was quoted as saying.
Dr Jones congratulated all the nurses and stated that he was thankful and happy to be serving in Region Four. He stressed that the nurses in the region were hardworking, diligent and committed and admitted that like any profession, there would be issues affecting both the nurses and residents but declared that in comparison to other regions he has the best nurses. “We will have issues but what I am happy about is that we have the most dedicated, diligent and committed nurses and they continue to make my job easier as they are so dedicated and unified in taking health care to another level, so let me thank you significantly,” Dr Jones told the gathering.
The RHO noted that were it not for the financial constraints of the region, it would have been his desire to provide each nurse with more significant prizes as they deserve that and more. However, as part of his department’s demonstration of gratitude and thanks, each of the 190 nurses in the region would receive a nurse’s watch among other things.
He promised that already his department has sought many ways to further enhance their working conditions through the purchasing of key pieces of equipment and revealed that after noticing that St Joseph Mercy Hospital has equipment to identify veins he immediately bought three.
“We are proactive and don’t feel that we will not continue the development within this region that is why I sought to acquire three of those machines that I saw at St Joseph Mercy Hospital because I know that it would benefit our nurses greatly,” Dr Jones said.
These, he said, would be placed at the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital, thus making it easier for nurses at the institution to identify veins when seeking to draw blood or insert IVs.
