Governor General Sir Patrick Allen is pleading with the island's nurses not to be too quick to leave Jamaica at this time.

"Jamaican nurses are known worldwide to be the best and other countries, particularly in North America, do not hesitate to recruit our nurses," the governor general said. "Thus, there is a chronic shortage of nurses which adversely affects health-care delivery here in Jamaica. I, therefore, want to encourage the nurses at AMH (Andrews Memorial Hospital) and, indeed, in other public and private institutions not be hasty to flee our country."

He added: "I know the lure of greener pastures and the mighty dollar is enticing, but there is much to be accomplished in this country and you can help."

Sir Patrick, who served as chairman of the AMH board for eight years, was speaking at its annual Nurses Award Banquet held last week at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew.

Be innovative

The governor general said changing demographics and health issues were making new demands on the health-care system and that nurses must be innovative in response to the new dynamics.

"We now have the influenza A (H1N1) virus to contend with and this has placed further stress on both the public and private health-care system for which new and innovative strategies for patient care must be instituted. Nurses are therefore themselves faced with the threat of health-care challenges."

AMH CEO Pastor Patric Rutherford, in recognising the work of the hospital staff and in particular the nurses, commended them for their dedication and hard work.

"The past year has been a challenging one and our staff has risen to the occasion and has performed excellently," Rutherford said. "Why was it so special last year? Last year, we were affected by the global economic meltdown like anyone else and had to have layoffs and belt tightening. The staff could not predict from week to week the level of patients that we would be handling. The whole dynamic of how things would be from month to month changed. With less staff, there were times when they had to do a lot of work with a lot of patients and then another week things slowed and the adjustment came back. Each time the volume is up beyond the human resource capacity, you rose to the occasion and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart."

The Extra Mile (nurse of the year) award, which is given each year to the nurse who excelled beyond the call of duty at the hospital, was presented to Annalia Bucknor.