This week, a wave of gratitude and admiration is sweeping across Belize as the nation celebrates Nurses Week. Clinics, hospitals, and homes are honoring the dedicated men and women at the core of our healthcare system, including midwives who touch every Belizean life from the very start. Today, a special ceremony at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital honored over forty nurses for their invaluable work in keeping us healthy and alive. News Five’s Marion Ali was on the scene to capture the heartfelt tributes and filed this report.
Today, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital dedicated an hour to honor over forty of its most outstanding nurses in a warm award ceremony. This event is part of the celebrations recognizing the invaluable contributions of healthcare professionals who tirelessly work in the crowded wards of the country’s busiest hospitals, clinics, and rural health outposts. CEO Chandra Nisbet-Cansino emphasized the importance of acknowledging these professionals, noting that such recognition serves as an incentive for their demanding and essential services.
Chandra Nisbet-Cansino, Chief Executive Officer, K.H.M.H.
“It’s important for us every year to ensure that we recognize them and we thank them and that their voices are heard. It’s now competition among not only the world, but within Belize itself – have a lot of healthcare institutions opening that are now hiring nurses. So we want to ensure that we get the best of the best nurses that the institutions are producing now.”
Registered Nurse Uriel Cowo joined the KHMH in December and has already had an enlightening first four months on the job. Although he needs to complete at least one year to qualify for an award, his positive attitude and dedication suggest that his name will be called in due course. Cowo’s promising start hints at a bright future in healthcare.
Uriel Cowo, Registered Nurse, K.H.M.H.
“It has its challenges, but that’s within a job, right? What you need to look at is the type of profession that you signed up to be in. So I signed up to be a nurse. What that is – what does that entail? It entails me embodying what we call altruism, giving myself to others. If you can’t put others before yourself, then maybe this isn’t the right profession. I think the awards are important because it gives you a sense of recognition that out there they’re seeing us, that our administration appreciates us, and just a little appreciation goes a long way because we come here to do a job that I believe is very difficult. Not everyone can do the type of work that we do.”
“We have a fairly high rate of deliveries, especially here at Karl Heusner, so they are the backbone of delivery at the delivery department. We were in a very significant shortage, but again, there is the program that has – we have quite a few graduates. I think it was about 20 that were graduating and certainly we hope to get some of those midwives here to help us bridge that gap.”
The Belize Nurses’ Association is inviting the public to show some love for their favorite midwife or “mid-husband.” In an exciting twist, three lucky midwives will win a cash prize, generously donated by Dr. Gilberto Landero, Dr. Veronica Rosado, and Renita Pop, the association’s president. This initiative aims to highlight the invaluable contributions of midwives to maternal and newborn care in Belize. Marion Ali for News Five.