The World Health Organization declared 2020, the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, a year for the world to celebrate us and invest more in us because of our sterling contribution to world health. Five months into the year we should have been moving into high gear of these celebrations. But instead nurses, other healthcare workers, essential workers and governments all over the world are fighting fiercely on the frontline of the COVID-19 battlefield to save human lives and economies.
Thousands of lives have been lost and many more have been saved, including that of nurses and doctors. Thankfully, no life has been lost and no nurse or other health worker has been infected with the coronavirus in Dominica. We, however, have lost a brother nurse who came to Dominica with the Cuba Medical Brigade on a Covid-19 mission. He came to save lives but lost his own. Joet Codero, collapsed on May 5th and died in service. Stop for a moment of silence with me to honor his memory ……The Dominica Nurses Association extends our profound gratitude for Codero’s nursing career, and his service to Dominica, we also offer our deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, and the Governments of both Cuba and Dominica.
This year’s theme for International Nurses Day is Nurses a Voice to lead – Nursing the World to Health. This is not just a theme, it is the life of nurses, it is our calling. We thank the government of Dominica for the privilege to serve and to lead in many ways. We thank you the citizens for the trust and confidence with which you let us enter your private and public space so we can nurse you to good health and life.
But there is so much more we can do if you would only listen to our voices, all our voices. We cannot nurse the world to health when its governments ignore us, nor can we nurse the world to health when the world abuses us. Put a different way, we cannot achieve Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Developmental Goals if we do not have the right and positive practice environment in which to achieve them.
Nurses response to the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed better than we ourselves could ever verbally convince you, that no nursing care is too daunting for us to deliver, and no place is too far to go to deliver that care; no one is denied our care based on his or her race, religious beliefs, political affiliation, social class, or infection status as in the case of emerging infectious diseases such as HIV, Ebola and Covid-19. Though burnt out and underpaid, victimized and bullied, with limited human and material resources we carry the lamp on our badges and in our hearts, that symbol of light, with which we touch everyone who comes into our care. It is for these reasons, that I proudly salute all nurses on the occasion of International Nurses Day, May 12th. I sincerely thank and appreciate all of you in current service, those who have retired and those of you who have migrated and making Dominica proud where ever you are.
In conclusion, I refer to the State of the Worlds Nurses Report launched last April 7th on the occasion of World Health Day. It reflects our reality and our cause and makes ‘a clear case for investing in nursing education, jobs and leadership’. The authors call urgently on relevant stakeholders, saying ‘they must commit to action’. Let us, therefore, join our voices with the global voice of nurses worldwide, the International Nursing Council to call on governments to invest more in nurses. I quote, “Every penny invested in nursing raises the wellbeing of people and families in tangible ways that are clear for everyone to see … investment in the nursing profession is a benefit to society, not a cost. The world needs millions of more nurses, and we are calling on governments to do the right thing, invest in this wonderful profession and watch [your] populations benefit from the amazing work that only nurses can do.” Annette Kennedy President,
ICN.
This article is copyright © 2020 DOM767
