A National Honour For More Than 40 Years Of Nursing

For many persons, their profession is something they have spent years gaining knowledge and expertise in to provide services to others. For Nurse Marjorie Elaine Hylton, her profession is that and so much more. It is her vocation; she was certain from childhood, after experiencing the gentle kindness of the public health nurse that vaccinated her at the Belmont Basic School in Westmoreland, that she wanted to be a nurse.

Some six decades later, Mrs. Hylton is being conferred one of the highest honours of Jamaica, the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer.

Mrs. Hylton had her start in nursing at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in 1980, working on a high-dependency ward. She pursued education and skill development by undertaking critical care courses. In 1987, she was awarded a scholarship by the University Hospital of the West Indies, to pursue studies in anesthesia at the University of the West Indies.

“That cemented me further into nursing. I love surgical patients. When a patient who is on the brink, their physical status is so critical that sometimes you would think they are not going to make it, [but] with excellent nursing and medical care the patient will make it and come back to say ‘thank you’, and that fascinated me so much,” Nurse Hylton tells JIS News.

As the first appointed Nurse Anaesthesist at the UHWI in 1989, Mrs. Hylton has seen countless patients and participated in thousands of surgeries, enough to know that her profession was a calling by God.

“When you see dead people walk, it gives you the zeal to do what you are doing, and for me, I know that I am working hand in hand with God to save lives because I have seen dead people walk. At my age, I would do nursing all over again because it is so rewarding that patients and family members can’t pay you; only God can. And because of that I will do it until I cannot do it anymore. I love nursing,” she shares.

To be a Nurse Anaesthesist is to be experienced, knowledgeable and resourceful. Mrs. Hylton recalls an incident when her resourcefulness was pulled upon in an emergency situation. A young female pedestrian was hit in the neck by a stray bullet and brought in to the Kingston Public Hospital, hemorrhaging to death. After administering anesthesia and intubating the patient, Nurse Hylton details her next steps to assist the doctors in the emergency surgery.

“Where the wound was pouring blood. I had to put on my gloves and put my hand in the wound. When the doctor made the incision and could get control of the blood vessel, I took out my hand. With all the blood loss, we thought she was not going to make it. When the surgery was finished, three, four hours later and I called her by name, she opened her eyes. That is all God. She woke up with her faculties and everything working as before,” describes Nurse Hylton.

Nurse Hylton’s 41 years of service in the medical field covers work at several major hospitals, including the Kingston Public Hospital, Victoria Jubilee Hospital, St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and the Bustamante Hospital for Children. While employed as a full-time nurse in the public service, Nurse Hylton also imparted the knowledge she garnered over the years to more than 5,000 student nurses between the Northern Caribbean University and the UWI School of Nursing, in Midwifery, Critical Care and the Operating Theatre.

Nurse Hylton says that teaching is another one of her loves, because she wants young nurses to be “brilliant and skilful to save lives”.

Working in a high-dependency area of the health sector and being accustomed to working 26-hour days, Nurse Hylton saw it hard to walk away from the front  lines in 2020. When the coronavirus pandemic reached the island and the Government of Jamaica mandated those individuals 60 years and over to stay at home, Nurse Hylton opted to remain on the frontlines helping her colleague nurses and doctors treat with the pandemic.

“No, I couldn’t stay at home, because my support, my help, my skill is needed.  So, I got the necessary PPE gear and as soon as the vaccine came in March, by April I was fully vaccinated. I couldn’t stay at home knowing that sick people need me,” states the selfless nurse.

When asked how she feels about the recognition being bestowed for her years of service and sacrifice in the medical field, Mrs. Hylton says she is happy knowing that her work and worth have not gone unnoticed.

“People are watching you, so you have to do what you are doing with reverence. I did not have it in my mind that I was pleasing to the world; but the recipients and their families and my own colleagues are observing to know that you are doing your best every day. I am surprised and truly happy that my work and worth has been noticed, and that sick people have gotten from me the care that they deserved and needed,” she says.

Nurse Marjorie Hylton is one of more than 100 awardees who will be recognised on National Heroes Day, October 18, during the National Honours and Awards virtual ceremony.