Nurses week started last week Monday with an opening ceremony and ended over the weekend with a hike on Saturday.
While on the hike enjoying the green refreshing atmosphere, and accompanying over 50 nurses and friends, reporters from the Antiguan Trumpet spoke with Arlea Gregory, the first Vice President of the Antigua and Barbuda Nurses Association (ABNA) about the purpose of the hike and her thoughts in reflection of the week.
Gregory who has been a nurse for over 25 years stated, “The life of a nurse isn’t easy. We are so busy working 12-16 hours a day, we hardly get time to recuperate and enjoy life. This is why we decided to have this hike to bring some fun into the nurses week.”
“ In addition, we were able to promote healthy living and the importance of proper exercise. It was a fun weekend, we got the chance to relax and connect with nurses whom we haven’t seen in a while, it was a good time for fellowship,” Gregory added.
“For this year’s nurses week, we weren’t able to meet physically but we were still able to pull off our events virtually and I must say, this challenge of having to innovate ended well for us.
We had a remarkable nurses week, we still felt the love and company of our nurses even though everything was online, and finally seeing each other in person on the hike brought joy to us all.”
Gregory who has been on the executive body of the ABNA for over 10 years became the first vice president in 2020.
“I am more than happy to be in a position to advocate for our nurses serving the nation. I know nursing can be a difficult job at times, and it can sometimes be exhausting but I would like to encourage our nurses not to give up. Keep fighting on and keep raising the bar higher and higher. In the end, our reward will be a healthier Antigua and Barbuda.” ABNA’s VP expressed.
