Celebrations to mark fifty years of Nursing Education in Dominica have been launched by the Faculty of Health Sciences formerly the Princess Margaret Hospital School of Nursing.
The calendar of activities are scheduled to run from October 28- November 02nd, 2012 will include a church service, health fairs, theatrical performances and an awards dinner.
The activities are to be held under the theme: “Honouring our heritage celebrating our successes” will commence with an opening ceremony on Monday October 28 to which past and present alumni have been invited.
In keeping with the Jubilee theme, an Educational Conference has been planned as one of the major highlights of the anniversary celebrations. The conference will be held over a three day period from Tuesday October 30 to November 1, 2012.
The Conference will run under a sub theme: Education in Nursing: Past, Present, Projections.
Organizers say the main objectives of the conference will be to share and discuss innovative ideas for health care improvement, promote the dissemination of nursing innovations, and contribute to the improvement of nursing education and nursing services through research based nursing innovations.
Head of the Faculty, Denise Edwards says the educational conference will celebrate the successes of the faculty. She told reporters at the launch of the programme of activities that three graduates from the alumni who attained terminal doctoral degrees will serve as lead presenters at the conference.
“Yes these are persons who received their foundation at the noble Princess Margaret Hospital School of Nursing. As we would say in nursing circles, they were breast fed here exclusively for the first 3 years of their nursing life. The effect is obvious by the heights they have achieved."
It is expected that a health fair will be conducted concurrently by the Alumni of Dominica Nurses in Action (DNIA) based in Texas, United States of America. The General Public will be able to access free health counseling as well as blood pressure and glucose checks.
Approximately one thousand seventeen students have attended the nursing school from 1962 to present. The programmes being offered by the faculty of Health Sciences include general nursing, nursing assistant, post basic midwifery, mental health nursing and an environmental health programme.