Carrying lighted candles, nurses in Anguilla, except those who manned their positions for emergencies, paraded into the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church just after sunset on Monday, May 9. Then, all of a sudden, the sanctuary was fully illuminated – the candles having been placed in the walkway, and at a head table, and the electricity lights switched on.
That display brought much attention both to the nurses and their purpose in the church. In a brief message, the President of the Anguilla Nurses Association, Nurse Twyla Bradshaw-Richardson, put their presence in the church in perspective. “We gather this evening with candles burning in the darkness as an emblem of our commitment and dedication to the act of nurturing and caring for those entrusted in our care,” she explained.
The candlelight service was the opening event of Nurses Week. “The ritual of a candle-lighting in nursing allows us to unite in solidarity, and pause in reflection for prayer as a renewal and rejuvenation of the spark to keep our lamps burning,” the top caregiver continued.
“Nursing is a combination of arts and science. The art side is when nurses are caring for the patients with compassion and understanding. The science side is the attainment of advanced degrees and the use of technology in the profession.
“Healthcare reform has created a paradigm shift and has lost the imbalance of the arts and science of nursing. In such environments it creates diverse challenges for the professional nurse to affect patient care as he/she should. The emphasis on science has become so fixated that failing to realise the importance of providing comfort and friendship to patients has contributed to the loss of the fundamental principles of why we became nurses. So, tonight, while embracing the theme of the week ‘Nurses: A Force for change: Improving Health System Resilience’, this ceremony…reinforces the understanding of the meaning of the profession and the ability of the nurse to influence change. By being the driving force of health, we can reap the best outcomes for our patients.”
It may have bee
n more than just chance that the candlelight service was held at the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. Pastor John Gumbs told the congregation that just last week, for the first time, in forty years, he was a patient at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where some of the same nurses were his caregivers. It was a fitting time for him to thank them, while delivering his sermon of encouragement and fortitude entitled True to your Call. “If you are going to be true to your call, there are going to be some hardships along the way,” he told the nurses. “It is not about you. It is not even about the patients you are attending. Personal and foremost it is about the God who has called you to attend to your patients and the rest of us in our community…God has never called any of us to a particular situation – and has been unable to stand with us. Therefore, you can say, like the rest of us, he will never leave me nor forsake me.”
Pastor John recalled that while receiving patient-care at the hospital, he observed that many of the nurses were not nationals of Anguilla. He took the opportunity of his sermon to tell them that, notwithstanding their nationalities, they were doing a great service to their fellowmen and were very welcomed in Anguilla.
Earlier, Mr. Fritz Smith, Chairman of the Health Authority Board, commended the nurses for their dedication and work notwithstanding the limited resources. He promised that the Board would endeavour to provide incremental improvements to make life and circumstances more pleasing and rewarding for them.
Minister of Health, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers, told The Anguillian after the service: “When you look at healthcare in general, the nurses are the foundation and caregivers of our health service. Of course you have the physicians and the specialists who also provide a service, but the nurses are the ones who actually provide the patient care. As far as I am concerned, everyone in the health profession carries his or her weight but at the end of the day the nurses are the ones who carry on most of what is taking place. The sermon by Pastor John was very appropriate. He said there were a number of nurses who were non-Anguillians but, in the nursing profession, they are nurses. It doesn’t matter where they are from and I think it is high time that they are more visible in the society.”
That is exactly what Nurses Week is mainly about. Mrs. Bradshaw-Richardson, President of the Nurses Association, outlined a number of activities aimed at interacting with members of the community. The activities included a visit on Tuesday to vulnerable persons – in the community – to present them with food baskets; a town hall meeting at the Soroptimists Conference Centre to offer members of the public an opportunity to dialogue with the nurses on what strategies could be implemented to improve the nursing service. A ‘wellness fiesta’ was arranged for Friday on the Agricultural Grounds to provide members of the public free massages, facial and foot treatment, vouchers for cholesterol testing, healthy snacks and exercises.
The Nurses Association President observed: “Nurses Week is a chance for nurses to come together to reflect on why we joined the profession; how we can offer them nursing care in and outside the healthcare system and, at the same time, rejuvenate our call to nursing.” 
