Nine months after a promise that they would once more get a Government stipend to ease the financial burden of full time study, student nurses are yet to receive the money.

And the Barbados Nurses’ Association (BNA), management of the Barbados Community College (BCC) and student nurses themselves are hoping that the current administration will make good on its promise.

Last February, Minister of Health and Wellness Ian Gooding-Edghill announced that Government would re-introduce the stipend some eight years after it was stopped and at a cost to taxpayers of $2 million annually.

On Monday following a scholarship award ceremony at the college, members of the nursing community renewed the call for the financial help.

“Since 2017, we have been advocating as the Barbados Nurses’ Association for the stipend to recommence to nursing students so that it could assist them with their studies. Leaving school and coming to study is hard; they have to travel to different health institutions as part of their studies.

“Also, the books and the materials that you have to acquire when you want to be a nurse are not cheap. We were told that it would be reinstated so we are waiting for the stipend to be reinstated to the nursing students of all years,”said president of the BNA Valerie Francis-Miller.

Deputy principal of BCC Dr Cheryl Weekes said the campus had already submitted the necessary information to start the process.

She too conceded that it was difficult being a student nurse since the financial requirements of the study could put strain on them.

“What I can say from the college’s standpoint is that the ministry has indeed been in touch with us and we have provided the necessary information in terms of the names of the students and the information they require in order to process the stipend. We are thankful that this is going to be reinstated because we know that it will go a long way to help the students in their profession reaching that level,” she said.

“Being a student and studying nursing is very difficult. It is not an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. kind of study programme in the sense that the students have to do clinicals and those clinicals can run till 9 p.m. because they try to work to shifts.

“It is difficult for a student to be here full time going into the clinical area and then working another job unable to sustain themselves.”

In February, Gooding-Edghill said in a press statement that first-year nursing students would be paid a stipend of $458.89 per month; second-years $578.53; third-years $698.16 and fourth-years $798.16.

To maintain the stipend, the nursing students would be required to maintain passing grades for all courses according to the criteria set by the BCC. They would also be placed on a two-year Government performance bond after completion of their four-year nursing degree.

The minister said he hoped the stipend would take pressure off the students and their families and lead to an increase in the number of nurses.

Weekes said that the stipend could encourage more people to study nursing especially in light of the on-going nursing shortage.

“It would be an incentive also, for more persons to join the profession to join the training, at least because they know that the challenges of not having the finances would be alleviated to a certain extent . . .  So this is coming at an opportune time when we know that we have a shortage of nurses. Having an incentive will encourage more persons, younger persons, to pursue nursing as a career.”

Francis-Miller said nurses also needed more incentives in the form of educational and career development opportunities.

“Migration is something that has been happening in Barbados for years. It has not just started. Nurses are continuing to migrate and we have, as a nurses’ association, been asking and advocating for incentives to help keep our nurses here. We would like some more incentives.”

Second year student nurse Aldaro Blackman agreed that the programme was financially difficult especially when travel costs and book and equipment expenses are factored in.

He said: “Nursing as a major is very expensive.”

There are close to 400 student nurses training at BCC.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb

The post Student nurses await ease appeared first on Barbados Today.

The demand for evidence was so great that at 11:00 a.m., the personnel working there were already considering closing the door.

According to the Ministry of Public Health’s most recent bulletin, 984, COVID-19 infections continue to rise, with 216 new patients detected, 1,948 active cases, and a positivity rate of 16.04%. Carlos Féliz, an epidemiologist and public health doctor, told Diario Libre that the cases being presented were not of “greater importance” and that what was happening was an “increase in cases of influenza”.

“We are facing an acute process of Covid rise in the Dominican Republic,” Féliz said. The doctor compared the current rise in cases to bulletin figures from 45 days ago, when the positivity rate was 2.38%, 24 new cases were reported, and 249 assets were counted. “At the time of yesterday’s bulletin, 983, the situation had already changed with 12% positivity and over 1,400 active cases,” he noted.

“The health fair, part of the Ministry of Health’s Christmas Caravan, was held under the theme, Wellness Involving Sensible Habits”

View the full post Christmas Caravan health fair in Carriacou on NOW Grenada.

To provide a more precise description of the extent of advances in this field of medicine, consider neuronavigation, a piece of equipment that uses GPS technology to trace inside the brain to identify areas close to the area where the surgery will be performed while avoiding collateral damage.

Gamma Knife radiosurgery is another non-invasive radiation-based procedure that does not damage the skin or the brain that it passes through. There is 3 Tesla magnetic resonance equipment in the diagnostic section, which allows real-time analysis of brain behavior and study of the main nerve connection pathways. These encouraging details are provided by neurosurgeon José Orlando Bidó Franco, who admirably describes how technology has allowed neurosurgery to advance.

“I would say that 98% of the procedures done in neurosurgery in the world are done in our country, even though some emerging technologies have not yet arrived.” Dr. Bidó Franco discusses the main tools available to neurosurgeons in the country that make surgeries and other procedures more effective by reducing morbidity and improving patients’ quality of life. In this regard, he cited stereotaxic, a technique that allows access to deep brain structures with submillimeter precision while causing minimal damage to the surrounding tissue.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in collaboration with the Cancer Support Services is intensifying its cancer treatment services to embrace a more patient-centered model.

On Friday during the signing of another Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two entities at the Martindale’s Road, St Michael facility, executive chairman of the QEH Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland said it was important that the hospital adjusted its approach to palliative care because of the emotional trauma and fear cancer could evoke.

She added that having a more patient-focused approach helped to create an environment where cancer patients would see that there was life beyond their diagnosis.

“Cancer evokes a tremendous amount of fear and emotional response. Some people don’t even want to call the word but what research shows and the Cancer Support Services has been able to demonstrate is that cancer diagnosis does not have to mean the end of the road. There are many people in Barbados who are living with cancer. who are coping… and meeting with others who are also going through these experiences,” she said.

“Understanding what it means to face this diagnosis has really enriched the whole arena of addressing cancer. There have been many people who have been able to live with a cancer diagnosis. What we are here doing at the hospital, we are working on the two spectrums – ensuring that we could provide treatment care and support for those who have a diagnosis . . . making sure they can live with the diagnosis and thrive.

“We are also, on the other end of things, recognising palliative care is also an important part, how we die and how we support persons as they transition is as important as how we bring them into this world.

“As an institution, we have a duty to make sure that we are providing the best quality services across the spectrum from birth through to the end of life and this is what our partnership with this organisation allows us to do.”

Director of Nursing Services Henderson Pinder said the QEH had trained about 80 medical practitioners in its palliative care enrichment programme. He made a case for the course to be conducted two or three times per year instead of once.

“Our palliative care enrichment programme has been one of the most successful ventures we have had with the Cancer Support Services. This programme enables healthcare workers – doctors, nurses and other support persons – to gain a new perspective of the care that they give.

“It gives them an opportunity to look at the care from the caregiver’s side and also from the patient’s side. It helps them to be able to see some of the sensitivities that they themselves have about cancer, about dying, about going through the process of end of life,” he said. “Medical persons who have been through this course, have reported that they have begun to be more sensitive to the needs of the patient and the families and putting them at the front of the care process.”

Bynoe-Sutherland added that the QEH has increased its provision of medical drugs and amalgamated the hematology oncology and nuclear medicine departments to allow for better synergy to attend to patients with cancer.

Executive director of Cancer Support Services Janette Lynton expressed pride at the work of both entities and said she wanted to strengthen her organisation’s relationship with the children on C7 and C8.

According to her, the doctors on those wards wanted more representatives from the Cancer Support Services to give parents with children who have been diagnosed with cancer more support. (SZB)

The post Greater support for cancer patients, families appeared first on Barbados Today.

For this bulletin, DIGEPI reported collecting 2,124 samples, of which 1,261 were taken for the first time and another 863 were taken in follow-up. As a result, daily positivity increased to 16.65 %, while positivity continued to rise in the last four weeks, marking 3.09 % this Saturday.

No new deaths were reported due to COVID, so the number of fatalities remains at 4,384 deceased.

Increased hospital occupancy was also reported, with the admission of 22 patients: 17 in standard wards and five in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

President Joe Biden turned 80 on Nov. 20, 2022 — and debate is ongoing, from a health perspective, about his advanced age and the capacity of individuals of that age to serve in the highest office in the land. 

Biden has surpassed former President Reagan as the oldest president to serve in the White House — and the milestone has people wondering: Is there an age that is too old for someone to be president?

"I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about anyone’s age, including mine," Biden himself told MSNBC in October.

BIDEN BECOMES FIRST PRESIDENT TO REACH 80 WHILE IN OFFICE

He added, "But I think the best way to make the judgment is to watch me."

When the Founding Fathers, who were mostly in their early 40s, were deciding the age of the president in 1787, they were more concerned with someone appearing "too youthful" than too old, according to History.com.

Article II of the U.S. Constitution specifies a minimum age — 35 — for someone to be president of the United States without setting a maximum age limit, the website added.

"I'm concerned about age-related dementia, which the job can accelerate given the pressure of the office," Gary J. Schmitt, resident scholar in strategic studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told History. 

DRINKING COFFEE, TEA, CAN LOWER THE RISK OF DEMENTIA, STROKE: RESEARCHERS

"But I'm also concerned about the higher percentage of the chance of death while in office, meaning [the American people] will be voting for one candidate but getting someone else who we have not vetted as seriously."

President Biden has a past medical history significant for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, gastroesophageal reflux, seasonal allergies and mild sensory peripheral neuropathy of his feet, according to his November 2021 health summary.

What is atrial fibrillation, exactly? The heart is composed of two upper chambers, called the atria, that pumps blood into its two lower chambers, known as ventricles, per the American Heart Association. 

HOW TO REVERSE YOUR BIOLOGICAL AGE AND FEEL YOUNGER WITHOUT SPENDING A FORTUNE

It normally contracts and relaxes to a regular beat. But in atrial fibrillation — or aFib — the atria beat irregularly so that blood does not flow into the ventricles efficiently, the association added. 

This can lead to blood clots.

"If a clot breaks off, enters the bloodstream and lodges in an artery leading to the brain, a stroke results," the cardiology association noted on its website.

Depending on their risk factors, including advanced age, some patients are placed on blood thinners to prevent this complication — including Biden, who is on the blood thinner called Eliquis as of November 2021.

The medical report also noted a stiffened gait that was largely attributed to arthritis changes in his spine, although it was noted "to be perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it has been in the past."

The report attributed his persistent coughing and throat-clearing to his acid reflux.

NEW YORK TIMES SAYS BIDEN'S AGE IS AN ‘UNCOMFORTABLE ISSUE’ FOR WHITE HOUSE, DEMOCRATS, IN STUNNING REPORT

A comprehensive neurologic exam did not reveal any neurological disorder, the report noted, but it did confirm mild peripheral neuropathy in his feet.

The doctor attributed his subtle gait changes in part to "limp and compensation" changes after he suffered a fracture in his right midfoot the year before.

"President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 78-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander in chief," wrote Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, physician to the president.

Former President Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president, was almost 78 years old at the end of his second term in January 1989, according to the History.com website. 

While in office, he survived an assassination attempt as well as surgery to remove a cancerous polyp in the colon — proving resilience is a quality not reserved for only the youth, History added.

JOHN HINCKLEY APOLOGIZES FOR NEARLY KILLING REAGAN: I'M TRYING TO SHOW ‘I’M AN ORDINARY GUY'

Reagan famously deflected attention from his age with humor during the 1984 debate with Democratic opponent Walter Mondale, joking, "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience."

Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump, was 74 years and 200 days old when he left office, according to History. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel in July 2020, Trump said he could successfully recall a sequence of five words on a cognitive screening test. 

Dwight Eisenhower was 70 years and 98 days old when he left office in January 1961. 

He survived a massive heart attack scare the year before he won reelection, per History's website.

But James Buchanan, our nation’s 15th president, had his health deteriorate while in office because of the stress of the job. He left office after only one term, at 69 years and 315 days old, the same source noted.

A 2011 study on aging of U.S. presidents found that the men in the White House tended to live longer once inaugurated compared to men of the same age — "even if they hypothetically aged at twice the normal rate while in office."

MORE THAN 50 REPUBLICANS CALL FOR BIDEN TO TAKE COGNITIVE TEST, AMID DEM CONCERNS ABOUT PRESIDENT'S AGE

"All living presidents have either already exceeded the estimated life span of all U.S. men at their age of inauguration or are likely to do so," the study noted in 2011. 

Not all experts, however, agree that the medical report in November 2021 was adequate to assess Biden’s functional and mental status. 

"Most troubling was the report his gait had stiffened significantly over the prior year," Dr. Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, recently wrote in the New York Post.

Biden's health report did not mention an MRI of the brain or a cognitive test, Siegel added.

A "stiffening gait can be associated with multiple conditions (including white matter damage or normal pressure hydrocephalus) that cause cognitive decline."

Siegel reminded readers that Biden had two brain aneurysms surgically clipped in 1988 and had a bleed in the head. 

Both conditions can lead to long-term risks of cognitive decline in certain patients, according to the medical literature, Siegel added.

As another presidential annual physical is due, he advocates for Biden to have a comprehensive cognitive neuropsychiatric test — as Trump did with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment while in office — and to release it publicly, as his predecessor did. 

"Of course, there’s substantial precedent for ill presidents hiding their ailments from the public, from Woodrow Wilson’s severe case of Spanish flu (which arguably affected the Treaty of Versailles) and subsequent stroke to Franklin Roosevelt’s heart failure to the extent of Dwight Eisenhower’s heart disease to John Kennedy’s Addison’s disease, all while still in office," Siegel wrote.

Other experts suggest Biden will continue to function well despite being in his golden years. 

"The older people become the less like each other they become," Dr. John W. Rowe, professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University in New York, told Fox News Digital. 

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"Factors beyond chronological age, such as race, gender, educational attainment, marital status (being alone is risky, especially for men), access to good health care and financial status, in addition, obviously, to general health status, have very important impacts," he added.

"By these criteria, President Biden is in a privileged group and is likely to continue to function very well for several years."

But Siegel requests full transparency because Biden’s "erratic" public behavior has called his mental fitness in question.

"Dr. O’Connor has an obligation based on medical ethics to determine the functionality of the president," Siegel noted. "This ongoing assessment should include a full neurological evaluation."

A privately-owned healthcare institution, Royalty Home-Care and Private Nurse Services, has expanded its operations and is now training patient care assistants at its Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo  headquarters. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Home-Care and Private Nurse Services, Nurse Alicia Solomon, who is also studying to become a medical doctor, said the institution ...

The study, published in The Lancet Microbe, does not rule out the possibility that the virus (monkeypox virus or MPXV, for short) is transmitted through the air, though direct contact, particularly with skin lesions of an infected person, remains the most common mode of infection.

The monkeypox virus, which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus, can be transmitted between animals and humans, and while its symptoms are similar to those of smallpox (which was eradicated in 1980), it is less severe, contagious, and lethal. The disease, which is endemic in Central and Western Africa, is primarily spread through close contact.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a worldwide outbreak of monkeypox a global health emergency in May 2022. Since then, more than 79,000 cases have been confirmed, which is more than the total number of cases recorded in Africa since the virus was discovered in 1970. According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), there were 25,400 confirmed cases in Europe up until November 8, with more than 7,300 cases recorded in Spain.

“According to our planning, it is estimated, if there is no variation, that there will be 10 billion this year.” says Dr. Mario Lama of the National Health Service (SNS),  “the pressure of the occupation of the general hospitals total 14% of the resources for Haitian patients,” the official said.

Although the maternity sector receives the most funding, approximately six billion pesos, the doctor emphasized that it is not only parturients and children who require neonatal care, but also patients with HIV, cancer, and those injured in fights or traffic accidents, among other circumstances.

Rivera’s 14% figure refers to the sum of the Public Health budget (8,300 million) and the SNS budget (75,000 million), which totals 83,300 million. The health sector’s overall budget is 123 billion pesos.