100 NCU nursing students applaud AdventHealth for laptops, oximeter gifts
ONE HUNDRED final-year nursing students from Northern Caribbean University (NCU) were elated last Wednesday on receiving personal HP laptops and pulse oximeters at the Kencot Seventhday Adventist Church.
The donation of 110 laptops and oximeters was gift to the NCU final-year nursing students from AdventHealth in collaboration with Andrews Memorial Hospital and the GSI Foundation during a handover ceremony.
The GSI Foundation is the charity arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica and the vehicle for getting the goods into the country.
“Computers are integral in developing education,” said Nurse Owen Gregory, senior international heritage liaison for AdventHealth, who represented his leadership and spoke at the ceremony.
“This gift from AdventHealth will help to foster your education and to navigate the complex arena of the future. As we prepare our nurses, it is important to equip them with the resources needed to complete that education. Donating these computers is one step in meeting that need and committing to their education.”
Further addressing the cause, Donmayne Gyles, president and CEO of Andrews Memorial Hospital, articulated that the partnership between AdventHealth, a prominent American nonprofit, faith-based healthcare system with 53 hospitals and headquartered near Orlando, Florida, along with Jamaica’s Adventist-run Andrews Memorial Hospital and Northern Caribbean University, aims to revolutionise the nursing profession and address the pressing need for nursing development and retention in Jamaica.
“This ground-breaking endeavour involves a tripartite collaboration between the three institutions, creating a comprehensive pipeline for nursing education, development, and employment.”
Gyles highlighted that the challenges facing the nursing profession in Jamaica are immense, and healthcare institutions and academic organisations must join forces to overcome them.
“Together, we are forging a path for excellence and ensuring that our nursing workforce is prepared to tackle the challenges of the future.” Hence, “AdventHealth, AMH, and NCU are pooling their resources, expertise, and influence to cultivate a pipeline that will lay the foundation for advancing nursing education, ensuring high-quality development, and ultimately retaining skilled nurses within the healthcare workforce.”
Happy for such an alliance, the board chair of the three institutions, AMH, NCU and GSI, Pastor Everett Brown, thanked AdventHealth for its gifts.
“The future of health care in Jamaica and the world is in this room. I hope that the investment made by AdventHealth and, by extension, AMH, will go a long way in developing the requisite nurses to add value to life, Jamaica, and the world,” Brown said.
Dr Lincoln Edwards, president of NCU, expressed gratitude on behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of NCU to AdventHealth, AMH and GSI Foundation. He also expounded on the importance of values-based nursing.
“Central to the business model of AdventHealth and Andrews Memorial Hospital are nurses. That means you. You are central to their business because they are in the business of patient care, and patient care requires nurses. But AdventHealth and Andrews Memorial Hospital don’t require any kind of nurses. They want nurses who … receive valuesbased education that allows them to care passionately for those who need such services. NCU is in the business of training such nurses,” said Edwards.
The NCU president further encouraged his nursing students to accept the offer of working with AMH and AdventHealth.
“All of you nurses, when you complete your studies this year, please consider serious employment at Andrews Memorial Hospital and AdventHealth. You will have the opportunity to spend two years at AMH if you decide to move on to AdventHealth or continue at Andrews. But I know that both institutions value you very much.”
At this point, the nursing student reacted with gleeful excitement and thunderous applause to Edwards’ announcement that the laptops and pulse oximeter were theirs to keep.
“We heard something was coming from last year before our final exams, but I wasn’t sure what it was. The culmination of this build-up is so exciting; I am excited just being here to receive my laptop,” said Daniella Montfort of Guyana. “After the financial challenges that COVID19 brought of being online, this gift is so much more meaningful. Some students do assignments from their phones; therefore, this is a blessing. Thank you so much to all partners involved.”
Shavay Shearer expressed her gratitude in her vote of thanks.
“I am thrilled and grateful for this initiative, and I speak on behalf of all the nursing students thanking you for the gifts, especially for the opportunity to work with these two health institutions,” said Shearer.
“The ceremony today was great! I am happy for the laptops, which will help with our assignments, develop our nursing skills, and ensure that we become more professional nurses in the future,” said Antonio Bower, one of the six final-year male nursing students who received his gift. “I look forward to collaborating with either health institutions in the future.”