10 nurses celebrate 20 years on the job

Today, Friday, February 1, 2008, ten nurses are celebrating their 20th year in the nursing profession.

The group of 25 students, identified as batch 18, began training at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines School of Nursing on February 1st, 1988. However, only 15 graduated. {{more}}Of this total, 5 migrated.

“The years following were challenging. However, the level of preparation received through training at the School laid the foundation for the successes that were achieved over the years”, a release from Chief Nursing Officer Audrey Gittens-Scott said.

History was created in St. Vincent and the Grenadines when the first male Student Nurse was assigned on a Female Ward. The first male Midwife was also from this batch. The group was unrelenting in its demands for this to happen. The students were Hilton James and Lawrence Joseph.

These nurses have excelled in several specialties in Nursing and have maintained a high level of professionalism. They remained a cohesive and committed team, and the passion to be a nurse is as ardent as it was twenty years ago. These persons are: Audrey Gittens-Scott, Chief Nursing Officer; Susanna Matthews-Forde, Nursing Tutor; Beverly Bobb-Liverpool, Nursing Tutor; Patricia Allen, Nurse Practitioner; Kathleen Sandy, Mental Health Nursing; Cecily Jackson- Haynes, Nurse Midwife; Hilton James, Nurse Midwife; Veronica James, MSc Student at UWI Mona; Margaret London, MSc Student at UWI Mona; Roslyn Richardson, BSc Student University of Technology Jamaica.

Batch 18 expresses gratitude to its mentors, Sister Ann DeRoche and the late Sister Aberdine Browne. Their demands for excellence at all times appeared harsh but determined the type of nurses they became.