Another batch of nurses graduates from ‘HIV Basics’ programme

Jul 27, 2010 News

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Twenty-four nurses graduated from an HIV Basics Training Programme facilitated by the Guyana Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday. The ceremony was held at the Project Dawn Training Facility in Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
These nurses were the third batch in less than a year to have gone through the programme that aims to cover the majority of the nursing population at the GPHC – a 400-strong body, according to Project Co-ordinator, Ms. Veena Morgan.
Although facilitated by GPHC, the project is funded by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. The nurses that are currently being targeted are new graduates of the nursing programme as well as those serving on the Infectious Diseases Ward.
The course was run by Dr. Sudheer Kumar who also serves as a consultant for the Infectious Diseases Ward.
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who delivered the feature address at the event, said that the health care industry has come a long way in its provision of care to HIV/AIDS patients.
He pointed out that transmission of the disease has diminished considerably along with the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS. The Minister also placed great emphasis on the need to control stigma and discrimination.
During the programme which was conducted from June 14 to July 26, the nurses would have studied a number of aspects of HIV/AIDS-related patient care practices.
The programme was aimed at educating the nurses about the prevalence of the disease in the country as well as available counseling and testing resources.
They were also instructed in proper communication and counseling techniques as well as the need for confidentiality in patient dealings.
Included in the curriculum was the need for infection control and the avoidance/prevention of stigma and discrimination towards HIV/AIDS patients.
Further into the programme Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) became the focus as nurses were educated on how AR therapy works as well as possible side effects that patients might display. The need for adherence to ART regimens was also examined since this is a key factor in the efficacy of the treatments.
The programme rounded off with providing care for a number of categories of HIV/AIDS patients such as pre and neonatal as well as pediatric patients.
Patient management – clinical and laboratory monitoring and home based/palliative care were also looked at along with nutritional needs for HIV/AIDS patients and opportunistic infections that might attack persons living with the disease.
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Crane Old Road accident…..
Mother and daughter still hospitalised

By Rabindra Rooplall
Two of the three injured in the Crane Old Road accident on Sunday are still patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Nursing injuries are Eugene Wilson, 55, and her daughter Wanda Ramkissoon, 35, of 221 Crane Housing Scheme West Coast Demerara.
Randolph Wilson, 59, who also was involved in the accident sustained minor injuries and was treated and discharged.
According to Wanda Ramkissoon, who received ten stitches to her forehead, she is visiting from Canada and was to return last Saturday but the flight was delayed; however. On the morning of the accident, “I told my mom buy hassa from Parika…We were standing on the grass in the corner, five minutes before that I saw three vehicle racing toward town, I told my mom these drivers are crazy…The next thing I heard was my dad (Randolph Wilson) say watch out, all I know after was I was in water (the trench).”
Ramkisson disclosed after 14 years she was visiting Guyana and had the worst experiences to return home with. “I am not brining my kids here or returning.”
Eugene Wilson, who displayed her severed finger, said she hopes justice must prevails. “We were hit off the road…the car hit all four of us one time.”
“My other finger is broken and I can’t move my foot.”
She added that a friend visited her and told her that the driver of the car claims that he is a seizure case. “Then if he getting seizure why would they issue a licence to him?”
Sixty-nine-year old Bernice Savitrie Herbert, a mother of six, was killed. Herbert, of 1092 Crane Housing Scheme was pronounced dead on arrival at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
According to eyewitnesses, the four persons were standing awaiting the arrival of a minibus at 9:35 hrs, when a car that was travelling at a fast pace, collided with the group, then slammed into an electrical pole next to Two Brother’s Waste Disposal Services.
“The car pitched the big lady about 30 feet away from whey she de standing and the rest of them get serious hit. One lady finger was cut off.”
Investigations revealed that the car was a silver-coloured 212 Carina, PMM 1191 which is impounded at the Vreed-en-Hoop police station.
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Nominations open for Ansa Caribbean Awards for Excellence 2011

The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence has announced the call for nominations for its 2011 awards in Arts & Letters, Science & Technology, and Public & Civic Contributions.
The 2011 Awards will be made in Port of Spain in April next year. The closing date for nominations for next year’s awards is August 31, 2010.
The Sabga Awards, which include a gold medal, (TT) $500,000, and a citation, have been presented on three occasions to 10 distinguished Caribbean persons since 2006.
They are the only awards which canvas the entire English-speaking Caribbean in the three categories.  Laureates include Trinidadian film-maker Yao Ramesar, St Lucian poet Adrian Augier, Guyanese writer, poet and critic professor David Dabydeen, Grenadian anatomical pathologist Professor Kathleen Coard, Guyanese community activist Annette Arjoon, Barbadian solar energy entrepreneur James Husbands, and Guyanese Indigenous Peoples’ and environmental activist, Sydney Allicock.
Nominations may be made by any person or institution in any of the categories, and persons may nominate themselves. The descriptions of the attributes desired in nominees in each category, and the nomination form, are available on the awards website, www.ansacaribbeanawards.com.
Nominations were initially the responsibility of Country Nominating Committees (CNCs) in Jamaica, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago.
However, in order to democratise the process, it was decided that the call for nominations should be opened to the public and institutions. The CNCs will still be able to nominate individuals, and it is to the CNCs that all nominations will go to be assessed.
Each country panel is comprised of prominent academics, professionals, and cultural and religious personalities from each island.
Once the CNCs have decided on the best candidates, and the candidates’ credentials have been verified by independent investigators, the CNCs pass on their recommendations to the regional Eminent Persons Panel (EPP), who make the final selection.
The Awards are funded by the ANSA McAL Foundation, but nominations, selections and all adjudication is independent of Foundation members.
In order to be considered for the 2011 Awards, nominations must be received by August 31, 2010.

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