International Nurses Day

May 12, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor

The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) joins the rest of the world today, Monday May 12, 2025, to extend happy International Nurses Day to the 29 million nurses and the 2.2 million midwives globally, and especially to our hardworking and dedicated nurses and midwives of Guyana.

This year’s theme is captioned: “Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for Nurses Strengthens Economies”. While it is an opportune time to highlight the care, compassion, courage, and commitment Nurses exhibit. It is equally necessary to ensure that valiant efforts are made to promote decent working conditions that allow for the total well-being of our Nurses.

It was the Inspirational Nurse, Keynote Speaker, Author, Columnist and Blogger, Ms. Donna Wilk Cardillo who stated that, “Nurses are the heart of healthcare.” In Guyana it is no different as Nurses provide invaluable services in our public health care system. Our Nurses play a pivotal role in the treatment, safety and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured persons. Their round-the-clock presence, observation skills, and vigilance allow doctors to make better diagnoses and propose better treatments. Many lives have been saved because an attentive nurse picked upon early warning signs of an upcoming crisis like cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.

It is therefore incumbent upon us to celebrate the hard work that our nurses do in the wide range of health care settings where they are placed. This day is also a time to reflect on Ms. Florence Nightingale, who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing and fondly remembered as “the lady with the lamp”. She was involved in data collection which proved that the main cause of fatalities in the Crimean War was not enemy fire, but infections attributed to improper sanitation. She was a pioneering statistician, probably the first person in history to use graphs and charts to persuade policy makers to better facilitate health care administration.

So, understanding that our nurses play a valuable part in the future of society, we must invest in the quality of education given to them to place them on the cutting edge of techquity in Nursing Practice, informatics, technology and innovation. Specialized nursing must be encouraged and strengthened. In addition, there should be remuneration commensurate with the care, commitment, and the sacrifice that the Nurses demonstrate in the light of the rising cost of living as our fiscal reality allows for it.

So, on this International Nurses Day, let us give a high-pitched note of praise to our Nurses in Guyana. I implore our citizens to continue to enroll in this noble though challenging profession. I also encourage more men to join the profession. Our nurses must help to lower the infant and maternal mortality by their diligence and alertness. With God’s help, strive to improve the patient- nurse relationship. The clarion call goes out as well to policy makers to address the determinants of health, to reduce inequity, to increase access to health care, and increase community participation. Therefore, nothing but a people-centered approach would allow us to care for our nurses and ultimately strengthen our economies.

Long Live Our Nurses and Midwives!

Long Live the Nurses and Midwives of Guyana!

Regards

Dr. Karen Cummings

Shadow Minister of Health

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