With the theme of, “Nurses: A Committed Journey to Catalyzing Change in Preparation for the Future”, during a ceremony held at the Wellness Center in Palmetto Point in March, a new board was installed for the Nurses Association of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (NACB) – Eleuthera Branch. New chairperson, Nurse Behanker Rolle, formally took up the helm of leadership.
In an interview, following the board’s installation, Nurse Rolle, introduced her leadership team at the Nurses Association, highlighting their diverse professional backgrounds, including members completing various advanced degrees and professional certifications. The new board includes Nurse Malik Fox Williams (Assistant Secretary), Tiara Rolle (Secretary), Deshan Mortimer (Treasurer), Krishma Fernander (Assistant Chairperson), and Behanker Rolle (Chairperson). Nurse Rolle, said, “Our team is pretty dynamic… we have brilliant minds – All of us are young and innovative and we bring a whole lot to the table. We have persons who have just completed their master’s degree and persons who are on their way to completing the midwifery program. Assistant secretary Nurse Malik Fox-Williams just completed a master’s degree in Nurses Public Health. Secretary Tiara Rolle is interested in joining the master’s program as soon as it starts this year. Then we have the treasurer, Deshan Mortimer, who has less than a month left to complete the midwifery program. Assistant chairperson Krishma Fernander, just started the midwifery program, and I just completed my master’s degree in October last year.”
Nurse Rolle emphasized the NACB’s role in guiding nursing standards and stimulating nurses to excel professionally and personally. Sharing a bit about her own experience as part of the association, she described, “Our objective, basically, is to stimulate nurses into excelling in their professional life as well as personal. We want to let nurses know, especially on the island of Eleuthera, that there are many avenues that they can take… Speaking from personal experience, I’ve been in the association since 2017, since I actually moved over here [Eleuthera]. I started off as the public relations officer. Then I worked my way up to treasurer, then secretary, and now chairperson. I’ve been involved for quite some time, since 2017… The reason I was pushed to do my master’s is because of the Nurses Association. When we had the ‘Leadership for Change’ program, a few years ago, we had set short term goals and long term goals. And one of my short term goals was to get my master’s degree. With that push, I was able to complete it.”
Nurse Rolle also pointed out the association’s scholarship opportunities, saying, “The association also offers nurses scholarships. So, if you were to go, for instance, with Walden University, you’ll get a 25% discount off your tuition, just because you are a member of the nurses association. So, we’re creating avenues. Our goal is to let nurses know that we are here, and if they need assistance in furthering their career, we can help them.”
She continued, “We’re finding now that even younger nurses are coming up. They’re not waiting until, you know, the government hands it down to them. They’re just going for it. Like, for me, I paid for my tuition. I didn’t wait to say, the government is going to do this for me. And now we’re realizing that the quicker you get it done, the easier it is. If I had to do it all over again, I would have done it much earlier.”
Delving into the nursing landscape in Eleuthera, Nurse Rolle confirmed the presence of 34 nurses (registered and clinical) across 15 clinic facilities, including Harbour Island and Spanish Wells.
When asked about upcoming aims and plans for 2025, Nurse Rolle spoke about initiatives being considered. Planned events included refresher courses for BLS [basic life support] and ACLS [advanced cardiovascular life support] training in June, as well as a mass casualty training exercise. She elaborated, “We are putting on as soon as June, for nurses, a refresher course for them to do their BLS and their ACLS training. BLS is basic life support where you would do CPR and that’s life saving. The ACLS is a little bit more complicated where it involves medication to save a person’s life while encompassing the BLS… Then we are also putting on a mass casualty training, where if there are multiple persons involved in some incident or accident, we’ll know how to respond properly to that. That’s happening on June 9th. That’s the Labour Day holiday, which is perfect, because you should have a whole lot of persons on the island as well.”
Nurses month, which is annually recognized and celebrated during the month of May, will see nurses in Eleuthera take part in a number of activities, said chairperson Rolle. The month is set to begin with a church service on the first Sunday, closely followed by a camaraderie building ‘sip and paint’ event during week two. Nurses week – celebrated during the third week – will be a time, said Nurse Rolle, for the association to host a ‘give back’ event for nurses throughout Eleuthera. During the final week of May, a health fair is scheduled, as well as a business expo, for the entrepreneurs within the group, to highlight their health related products and services.
Not originally from Eleuthera, but now fully immersed within her North Eleuthera community – Nurse Rolle, shared how, as a young thirty-something nursing professional from New Providence, she had come to make Eleuthera her home. “I finished nursing with my bachelor’s in 2013, and I was stationed at adolescent health for about three years in New Providence. I’m from Nassau, born and raised, and I’m 33 years old,” she began. She continued, describing how her first posting in adolescent nursing, became mentally draining after a time. She applied for a transfer, looking to expand her nursing experience – and originally intended to go to Abaco, along with several colleagues – with the new mini-hospital opening on that island. However, it did not work out that way, said Nurse Rolle, and she was called to go to Eleuthera. “So, I came, I tried it. I was like – I will only spend one year… One year turned into two years. Two years turned into five, and five years turned into home… So, Eleuthera. Yes. Not too fast. It’s not too slow. The economy is growing…”
Commenting briefly on the new advanced health facility being built in Central Eleuthera, in reference to the nursing body on the island, Nurse Rolle, in her new capacity as chairperson of the NACB Eleuthera branch, said that she was keen to communicate with the responsible board – to ensure that the voices of nurses were taken into account, before the facility opened.
“At the end of the day, I believe the nurses are here for the people and the people are here for the nurses. So together, it’s a win win situation. We give you the knowledge that we have and you give us the motivation to keep going,” Nurse Rolle concluded.
