UHWI Nurse to Receive Badge of Honour for Four Decades of Service

Inspired by her mother’s gentle care of injured animals, Christine Wilson, from a tender age, set her mind on becoming a nurse.

The Former Director of Nursing at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) has enjoyed the reward of serving patients while growing professionally and personally.

For 41 years of service to UHWI, Mrs. Wilson will be conferred with the Badge of Honour for Long and Faithful Service on National Heroes’ Day (October 16).

“I loved nursing from I was a child. I usually see my mother bandaging the dog’s feet and all of those things and an aunt of mine was a nurse also. I don’t regret coming into nursing,” she tells JIS News.

Reflecting on her journey in the nursing profession, Mrs. Wilson says she pursued studies at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISON) in 1978 and on completion in 1981, she secured her first job at UHWI.

“At that time, we were apprentices, meaning, we were students but at the same time we were under the guidance of the hospital. If there was a nurses’ strike, we had to come out because we were under the supervision of the hospital. They got to know me, so when I applied in 1981 after passing the Nursing Council exam, I was hired and went on to the female surgical ward,” she recalls.

Throughout her career, Nurse Wilson took advantage of opportunities for further training, guided by the words of British nurse, Florence Nightingale, who said “Let us never consider ourselves finished, nurses. We must be learning all of our lives.”

After working for three years on the female surgical ward, from 1981 to 1983, she pursued a one-year midwifery programme from 1983 to 1984, which required her to assist with delivering 20 babies.

She went on to work in the antenatal clinic and on the post-natal ward before settling at the special care nursery until 1990.

After completing a course on the care of critically ill persons, she went on to the intensive care unit (ICU), serving as a charge nurse, where she had responsibility for all the registered nurses, patient-care assistants and level-one nurses.

Nurse Wilson left Jamaica in 1993 for a year while her husband was studying overseas, and on her return, she worked briefly at a private hospital in Kingston.

“In 1994, I came back to the university hospital because that’s where my blood was,” she says with a chuckle, adding that she was named UHWI Nurse of the Year in 1996.

Nurse Wilson served as Clinical Nurse Manager from 2002 to 2020, which came with the additional task of being responsible for the charge nurses, ICU A and B, the recovery room, the main operating theatre, the sterilising processing department and the Tony Thwaites Wing.

She was elevated to Director of Nursing in 2020 where she had a “greater span of responsibility and authority”.

“I was supposed to know everything that happens. Even when I’m off duty I had to know what was happening and to be able to manage [the situation] when I was called. I had a closed user group phone and I was always on duty. It was very demanding but because I love nursing, I like to ensure that the things that I am supposed to be doing are done and done well,” she shares.

Good communication and interpersonal skills, she notes, were key to leading the nurses at UHWI.

“Sometimes, they come to work and they are not having a good day but you can’t fight fire with fire. You have to know how to speak to them to get the best out of them,” she tells JIS News.

Nurse Wilson details that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to provide extra support to the nursing staff, as their well-being was of critical importance while they cared for the patients.

“I had to be there for the nurses because even though I was not going into the cubicle with them, I had to ensure that they had the various equipment, gowns and gloves. Whatever ways I could assist them, I did, because it wasn’t easy having on all those layers of clothing, and sometimes they were wet, very wet [under the protective clothing]. I had to ensure that they got meals and all of those things,” she explains.

The 67-year-old, who retired in December 2022, has been re-engaged as the hospital’s Bed Manager on a contractual basis.

As Bed Manager, she is responsible for collaborating with the technical team on general care of the beds, ensuring that defective beds are repaired, and educating nurses on proper bed care.

“When I get the numbers of the unoccupied beds in the mornings, I alert the emergency department because they always have patients waiting to be admitted. At the same time, if one ward has five beds, I have to be mindful what day it is, because if it is clinic day, you might have a patient coming from clinic who is going to need a bed. So, I have to know to reserve one or two beds,” she points out.

Nurse Wilson recalls being both surprised and elated when she was informed that she would be receiving a national honour.

“I was feeling good to know that I had served and served well and I was being rewarded for it. At one point, I was the only person in my batch who was residing in Jamaica. All the others had gone but a few have returned now. We had a reunion last year and it was a very good one,” she says.

Her greatest moments of joy are seeing patients fully recover from their illness and when relatives express gratitude for the care given.

“It makes you feel good because you have contributed to the betterment of the patient and they can go home to their families,” she shares.
Nurse Wilson tells JIS News that she plans to enter full retirement at the end of her two-year contract.

“I like to do my little gardening at home and then I can pick up my little sewing because I did a fashion designing course years ago,” she shares of her retirement plans.