Best graduating nurse driven by love for profession
After losing her father to a tragic motorcycle accident, in which he was decapitated, Osiola Gilbert-Chilcott watched her mother go to work to support her seven children. Sometimes she even accompanied her mother to work, and it was during those visits that she was inspired to follow her mother’s footsteps and enter the nursing profession.
Her mother, Avril Culley, spent 22 years as a nursing assistant as she was unable to further her studies due to her commitment to her children but the drive and passion with which she worked during those years not only inspired GilbertChilcott but all three of her daughters to become nurses.
Gilbert-Chilcott has been in the profession for the past seven years and always having the drive to reach the pinnacle of her profession, she was not satisfied with just becoming a registered nurse. She has recently completed a degree in nursing at the University of Guyana, graduating at the top of her class and winning awards for best research and best innovation project.
“I felt really blessed and overwhelmed. I was very happy. I know that hard work brings success and I really studied hard… and so there was like so much joy in my heart,” Gilbert-Chilcott said of her recent success, adding that she was not expecting to top her class.
Nurse Gilbert, as she is professionally known, told Stabroek Weekend that because of the inspiration from her mother she entered the science field at Central High School and that was where she started her journey to becoming a nurse. Right after school she enrolled in the Georgetown School of Nursing and graduated in 2014.
She recalled that at the age of ten she used to accompany her mother to the West Demerara Regional Hospital and admired the way she cared for the patients.
“I used to see how they would respect her and had so much love for her and they would address her as ‘nursie’ and say ‘nursie thank you’ for the care she provided for them,” she said of those days.
Entering into the profession, GilbertChilcott said, she felt accomplished as that was her dream and over the years she has fallen in love with the profession.
“This is what I love, and I am also very passionate about it because I love to provide care. I love to just put a smile on every patient’s face and help them to feel comfortable, those that are bed ridden provide the basic care for them,” she said.
Though it is still a noble profession and nurses along with so many others have had to be frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, she lamented that she does not feel that it is a respected profession as it was years ago. But because she loves her job, she does not allow this to get to her and despite the challenges she still believes she can make a difference.
Difficulty
Gilbert-Chilcott said that her two years at the University of Guyana were not easy as to commit to her studies needed 100% effort, but because of her full-time job it was difficult. She was forced to request to work strictly night because of her classes during the day.
She reported to duty at 8.30 pm and left at 7.30 am and sometimes she showered and had her breakfast at work and then attended classes.
Prior to her studies she was stationed at the Accident and Emergency Unit, and