#BTColumn – From Rock Hall to nursing excellence

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Vincent “Boo” Nurse

Fifty years ago, a Barbadian, Nola Ishmael (nee Harris) formerly of Rock Hall, St Andrew, left Barbados to travel across unchartered waters to the United Kingdom in order to find a new life.

Her chosen path was the nursing profession and like many at that time it was a trek into unknown territory.

Tenuous as it was, the choice of career has been proven to be an outstanding success. Nola’s career achievements are now etched in the annals of history of nursing in the UK.

Recently the highly prestigious publication the British Journal of Nursing paid tribute to Nola’s work. Nola received the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding lifelong contribution to nursing over many years.

In making the presentation Professor Ian Peate OBE, said Nola’s commitment to individuals, friends, families, the nation’s well-being, and the nursing profession was the basis on which the award was given.

I spoke to Nola at her home in Coventry in the Midlands where she now lives in retirement. After an early education at the Community High School, Nola taught at the John the Baptist School in St James and after a brief period, she was persuaded to travel to the UK to advance her studies. Consequently, she qualified as a State Registered Nurse.

At that time most Caribbean nurses opted to continue their careers in the field of midwifery, but Nola was not attracted to such a move. She had seen enough babies in her short career and chose to study obstetrics.

However, despite further success Nola was not fully satisfied. She decided to move to mental health nursing because of a deep interest in neurological matters which she found to be more challenging.

The management skills and ability of the young Barbadian were soon recognised by the authorities and she was promoted to the post of Ward Sister at a large mental health hospital
in London.

Nola’s upward career curve was now fully in motion but she recognised that there needed to be a broader appreciation of the dynamics of management if she were to make further progress.

And I asked, were the steps for further improvement independently taken? Nola said: “I knew then that I had
to study more and create some flexibility in my experience.

I chose to work in the community as a Health Visitor and was therefore able to interact with persons from all sections. I found the experience enlightening.

Later I had control of my own district in inner London which consisted largely of fellow Black people and I found that experience to be quite rewarding and fulfilling.”

Given the highly multi-racial mix of the district where Nola worked, I asked her if she had encountered any difficulties. She said there were none worthy of record and added: “I worked across all the social structures of the district.”

The pattern of this remarkable career had now taken shape and Nola was invited to lead the Health Visitor’s section as the Assistant Director of Nursing in the London Borough of Greenwich. Soon after she was appointed Director of Nursing, becoming the first Black person to hold the position.

It seemed inevitable that this would not be the end of the line for Nola and after serving six years as Director of Nursing another move up the ladder beckoned.

She reflected: “I received a call from the Department of Health and was offered a secondment position as Nursing Officer in the Ministry. I readily accepted and a posting which was scheduled to last for six months eventually lasted one year.”

I sensed an Alice in Wonderland story, not through a dream but through the sheer ability of the able and ambitious Barbadian.

Nola was invited by the Chief Nurse of England to become Professional Private Secretary. I wondered what this move entailed as it was another step up a very steep ladder.

Nola answered: “My remit was quite broad. I was involved in the policy development of the department, speech-writing for, and advice to the Secretary of State and his ministers, and also helping to ensure that policies for frontline staff met with modern practices.”

Surely there was not much more she could do, and Nola retired after ten years in the bowels of the Ministry of Health.

Along the way our nursing tsar has been nationally recognised: In 2000 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the Department of Health and Nursing. In 2003 a Doctorate of Letters was conferred by Birmingham City University and in 2016 she was recognised as an outstanding Barbadian in the diaspora of the UK and given the 50th Anniversary Independence Award.

Nola said she was very happy and proud to have received the awards. In addition, she has been invited to take part in the development of an awards programme to recognise and retain the memory of the work of Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole, the pioneer of nursing some years ago.

She added: “I feel a spirited bond with Ms. Seacole and the work she did to tend to the sick in the society of yesteryear and am happy to do anything to keep the name Mary Seacole uppermost in the minds as we discuss nursing care particularly when it is carried out by Black nurses across the entire world.”

Nola Ishmael’s journey is filled with great and wide experiences in her career and finally I asked for an overview, given the changing face of the National Health Service in the UK.

She said: “Firstly if we are to progress, ambition must be matched with hard work. However, Black nurses have for a long time been the backbone of the National Health Service and they have worked unstintingly in the cause of health care for their fellow citizens.

I feel that our contribution has not been fully acknowledged or rewarded. There has been a lack of promotion beyond staff nurse level which I feel is not justified. Maybe the general feeling that they will be rejected has, through the ages, tempered the ambitions of many of our Black nurses.”

A truly remarkable journey which started in Rock Hall, St Andrew has been made by Nola. She now spends most of her time gardening and has a daughter Cher, son Jeff and grandson, Jaden.

Vincent “Boo” Nurse is a Barbadian living in London who is a retired land Revenue Manager, Pensions and Investment Adviser. He is passionate about the development of his island home and disapora.