Warm welcome for Ross University

THE operation of Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) on the island is expected to give a boost of between $55 to $60 million to the Barbados economy annually. To date, the medical university has provided work for over 1 000 Barbadians on the construction projects on the academic and living facilities.

However, there are other benefits which were highlighted yesterday during the official opening ceremony of the University at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, which would be welcomed news for local and regional nurses.

It was revealed that Chamberlain University which, like Ross University is also a subsidiary of Adtalem Global Education, now has a presence in Barbados. It is comprised of a College of Nursing.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, while stressing the importance of the partnership between Barbados and Ross University, which began one week after the Barbados Labour Party took Office back in June, highlighted the opportunities that can arise for nurses given the global shortage.

According to Mottley, “In our manifesto we committed to the establishment of a School of Nursing. Little did the Minister of Health and Minister of Education know that we would have the opportunity to make good on that promise within months, by looking to see how we could partner between the Barbados Community College and the Chamberlain School of Medicine.

“That Chamberlain’s logo is at the centre of this campus is an indication that it is our intention to work together with you to be able to make real that equivalent to what we are seeing at Ross University today with respect to nursing.”

Prime Minister Mottley said this is critical since it was recently highlighted that there are entities seeking to recruit local nurses.

“We are conscious that week after week there is the cry across the world for good nurses … Artificial intelligence, no matter how good it is, will never replace the role of a good nurse.”

The Prime Minister expressed concern that many young girls do not see nursing as a profession in which they can develop a career. “But we say that the ability of the Caribbean to continue to produce large numbers of nurses is constrained only by our capacity to educate them. We stand here today ready to work on the partnership with you, to significantly expand the number of nurses that we can produce, not to send out to the rest of the world as emigrants, but to send for the rest of work for the sale of services for six, nine, ten months, never forgetting where you have come from and where you must return.”

The Prime Minister, who also took a tour of the large state-of-the-art facilities, also called on Barbadians to be welcoming to the students. “Recall that each of you who have children, nieces or nephews or grandchildren, that where your children go overseas, be it to study, or to work, that you want someone to look out for them… I want us as Bajans to remember that other saying ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.

“Let us embrace the children of Ross, recognising that they are children and that they are partners and family. Let them understand what a wonderful place this country can be. And by extension, if you see somebody interfering with them, get involved and stop it, because that is exactly what you would want somebody to do if your child goes away…” she said. (JH)