BNA in nurses aid appeal

An appeal has been made to nurses and friends to donate cash in support of their colleagues who are on the frontline of the response to the hurricane disaster in the northern Bahamas.

President of the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA) Joannah Waterman, says while the association has a high debt incurred from hosting the regional nursing conference, the circumstances facing nurses on Great Abaco Island are dire.

Waterman said she has been in touch with Rebecca Johnson,  the president of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Nurses Association.

“[Johnson] describes the situation as very depressing and a situation in which it’s so enormous it feels unreal,” Waterman said.

The BNA president said nurses in Abaco had to escape from their homes with just the clothes on their backs in the face of Hurricane Dorian. The hurricane devastated the Abaco islands and Grand Bahama over two days from September 1.  The death toll so far has reached 53, with another 1,300 people left missing.  The damage is estimated at over US$7 billion.

Waterman reported: “The nurses are desperate for scrubs, uniforms, water, food, toiletries and baby items, including food.

“It’s unbelievable what the Bahamian nurses have to deal with.”

The appeal to an estimated 1,000 nurses in the BNA’s ranks in addition to friends and family for cash is to close at month-end.      

The BNA president said the association has a huge debt and was constrained in the degree to which it could support its sister association in the Bahamas.

The debt related to hosting the Caribbean Nurses Organisation (CNO) conference last October, she said.