Kathleen Brathwaite is the recipient of the 2016 Nurse of the Year award.
Kathleen Brathwaite is the recipient of the 2016 Nurse of the Year award.
Brathwaite, who works in the Accident and Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), was presented with this honour on Tuesday. This was done during the annual Barbados Nurses Association (BNA)’s Christmas social, which was held this year at the St. Michael residence of the BNA President, Blondelle Mullin.
In an interview with The Barbados Advocate, Mullin explained why Brathwaite was selected for the top award.
“The Nurse of the Year is usually presented to a nurse who has shown professionalism and has done well, the usual hard work [and] the duties of a nurse for the year. Her administrators, her colleagues have noticed that she has worked exceptionally well, and they have decided that she deserves to be our Nurse of the Year for this year.”
Mullin pointed out that Brathwaite has been in the profession “for almost a decade”. She also stated that she has represented the BNA as a member of the youth arm of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Association of Barbados (CTUSAB).
The President congratulated Brathwaite and highlighted one of the reasons why the honour is annually presented to an outstanding nurse.
“Knowing that we have so many nurses in Barbados, and we always say that no medical institution in Barbados can run without a nurse, nurses are [the ones] who do most of the work for all institutions, and we help train everyone, from doctors back down. So we know that nurses do work throughout the year, and nurses need to be recognised for their hard work, that is why we try to give Nurse of the Year.”