The Anguilla Community College, in association with the Portmore Community College in Jamaica, has turned out its first batch of graduates in Geriatrics. It is a branch of medicine that deals with the illnesses and medical care of senior citizens.
The graduation was held at the Community College’s conference room on Friday, March 1, under the chairmanship of Dr. Leroy Hill, Director of Humanities and Education.
“It is a momentous occasion because all of the students have passed,” he told reporters. “In our programme, we have as our Coordinator, Mrs.Civilla Kentish, a qualified Nurse; we have had a number of presenters; and our External Examiner is Mrs. Dionne Richards from Portmore Community College.”
Mrs. Richards, who is the Head of that College’s Department of Nursing, said in part: “This programme that we are offering in Anguilla is a Basic Geriatric Course. It is for twenty weeks, and trains the participants to take care of elderly clients at their home or at a geriatric facility under the supervision and watchful eye of a Registered Nurse or a Medical Practitioner.
“We have a very diverse curriculum and we are currently seeking accreditation for the programme. But students will be qualified to work in their country of studies and in some overseas countries where the certificate is recognised.
“This is our first batch of students in Anguilla and we are delighted and excited about having them. We are especially excited about the fact that they trusted us. This programme is new to Anguilla and we trusted the Anguilla Community College to offer this level of education and it is paid off. As Dr. Hill said, they [the students] were all successful. They demonstrated exemplary skills in the practical area in the examinations and I think that they should all applaud themselves.”
Carl Thomas, one of the students, who spoke on behalf of all of them, said: “For all of us, the course was exciting. We learnt lots of new things and it was also exciting to travel to the various institutions for the practical parts of the course.” He spoke of himself and the other students becoming emotionally affected by seeing persons who were unable to help themselves. He was happy that the students were able to render some assistance to them as part of their theoretical and practical training.
Mrs. Richards, the visiting Examiner, presented graduation pins to the obviously proud students. The recipients were Glinda Vanterpool, Christonelle Gumbs- Romney,Joy Williams, Carol Brookes, Karen Richardson and Carl Thomas.
