President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) Edith Allwood-Anderson, saluted nurses for joining the profession despite the challenges as well as the social and political climate. She encouraged the nurses to care for and guide their patients.

Published Wednesday, May 13, 1998

Nurses reflect on founder’s legacy

NURSES YESTERDAY commemorated International Nurses’ Day, on the birth date of one of their pioneers, Florence Nightingale, with an open day at their headquarters in Kingston.

Nightingale earned the claim of founder of modern nursing when in 1854 she took a small band of women from England to the battlefronts of the Crimean War. Returning four years later to England, she founded the first-ever nursing school in London.

Bearing this level of loyalty to nursing in mind, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) Edith Allwood Anderson told the gathering of students and registered nurses, "We acknowledge that, to the legacy of our pioneers (including Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole), we have not always been true ... but we take the time to acknowledge you."

She praised them for having taken on the challenge of nursing, especially in the existing 'social and political domain’.

But, reflecting on the theme of Nurses’ Week, 'Partnership for Community Health’,  Allwood-Anderson said that the sole custodian of healthcare was actually the patient. "We, as nurses, just need to guide and challenge them," she pointed out.

Thelma Deer-Anderson, acting director of nursing service, also picked up on the theme of nurses working in the community. It is prudent, she said, that nurses seek wisdom at the level of the community, since they must work with the patients and the community in a team approach.

She also spoke to the ongoing issue of dissatisfaction with the health-reform process, including the fact that the position of assistant director, nursing service, had not been filled by the Ministry of Health. The strategy under the reform process, she said, was to focus on functions and not positions.

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