Nurse Goff honoured with highest Red Cross award

This evening the Belize Red Cross recognised thirteen graduates who successfully finished a Home Nurses Course. Twelve women and one man completed a fifty-hour syllabus that included theory, practical demonstrations and simulations. The homecare givers also completed sixteen hours of basic first aid and C.P.R. The graduates will now be required to go out and serve their communities, friends, and families.

A highlight of the ceremony included the presentation of the Florence Nightingale Medal to Nurse Delsyia Goff. Goff who started her nursing career in Belize in 1954 as a registered nurse, rose through the ranks to become Principal Nursing Officer. Goff, who retired from the public service in 1988, continued to serve on the Ministry of Health’s Central Committee until 2006. Goff has worked tirelessly for the Belize Red Cross, particularly on the Society’s Disaster management Committee, and helped coordinate the response operations for hurricanes Keith and Iris.

Delsyia Goff, Recipient, Florence Nightingale Medal
“Congratulations and you have entered into a beautiful area, homecare nursing. That area of nursing is needed in Belize. We need you and especially when you look at me I will soon have need for you.”

“In conferring this honour I take it not as a single honour but as a gratification to our nursing profession and the Belize Red Cross. Again, I say thank you and God bless you.”

The Florence Nightingale Award is the Red Cross Movement’s highest international honour in the nursing profession.