Barbadian nurse Alvin Hart has been re-elected vice-president of the Caribbean Nurses Organization (CNO) for a second consecutive term.
Hart secured the position during elections for the organisation’s Board of Directors on Friday, October 30, at its 34th Biennial Meeting and Conference in St Kitts and Nevis.
He was elected ahead of candidates from Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
The conference, which ran from October 23 to 31, brought together nursing leaders, educators, practitioners, students and policymakers from 19 Caribbean countries and territories.
Another development was the reactivation of the Caribbean Nurses Student Organization (CNSO), which had been largely dormant for more than a decade.
The organisation, founded in 2003 by St Kitts and Nevis nursing pioneer Dame Delores Gumbs, has been relaunched as the Caribbean Nurses Student Organization and Early Career Nurses Network (CNSO-ECNN).
Hart was a member of its inaugural executive and became president in 2005, succeeding Jamaica’s Kevin Allen. He also spearheaded efforts to revive the organisation.
The network is intended to provide student nurses and early career professionals with opportunities for leadership development, mentorship, regional networking and professional advancement.
Gumbs, now 86, attended the installation ceremony for the new executive and presented an award to the incoming president.
Barbados Community College third-year student nurse Timeka Layne was elected unopposed as president for a two-year term.
Barbados was represented at the conference by a 25-member delegation led by Barbados Nurses Association president Dr Fay Parris. The delegation included eight student nurses.
Delegates took part in scientific sessions, policy discussions, workshops, governance meetings and networking activities. (NationNews)