Speaker Honors Fellow Nurses at House

This week is Nurses Appreciation Week and the Nursing Association and Nurses and Midwives Council of Belize have held various activities to honor the largest and most unsung portion of the health community. The selected theme is “Nurses Take the Lead in Helping to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” a nod to the work of the health care profession is connecting the seventeen established goals by the United Nations. Nurse Laura Longsworth opened today’s House meeting, attended by a contingent of nurses, with an appreciation for her profession.

Laura Longsworth

Laura Longsworth, Speaker of the House

“When I arrived at the House this morning, I met the Chief Nursing Officer, at the foot of the stairs; and she informed me that a group of nurses would be in the gallery this morning. (Applause) they’re here as part of the culmination of activities for Nurses Week. As you know, nurses are the largest part of the workforce in healthcare services delivery in Belize and they have been observing Nurses Week under a very important theme, one that really affects all of us in the country, and that has to do with nurses taking the lead in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. And so then, it is a very serious charge that we have, but one that we are used to. We are always working with the whole issue of the social determinants of health and those determinants are captured in the SDG’s: things like poverty, access to clean water, education, climate change, and those other factors, including workplace environments, and of course economic growth for our people. And of course our nurses are very much a part of that; very important to all of us.”

The Nursing Conference was also held today in Orange Walk Town.