Regional nurses receive paediatric training with SickKids Caribbean and Republic Bank

Barbados, November 26th, 2019– The SickKids-Caribbean Initiative (SCI), a not-for-profit collaboration between SickKids Foundation and several Caribbean health-care institutions, continues in partnership with Republic Bank, to make excellent progress addressing the regional shortage of trained paediatric nurses.

The training is being provided via the Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Nursing Education Program (PHONEP) - the first of its kind in the Caribbean. PHONEP was launched by SCI in Trinidad and Tobago in September 2016 in partnership with The University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISoN).

Since PHONEP’s launch, 27 nursing students, over two cohorts, from five of the SCI partner countries, have successfully completed the program, each receiving a Diploma in Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Nursing from UWISoN.

The partnership with Republic Bank is specifically geared towards supporting the training of nurses under the Bank’s Power to Make a Difference (PMAD) corporate social responsibility programme, and in September, this year, a third cohort of nurses commenced PHONEP training.

Jointly delivered by SickKids educators and lecturers at UWISoN, St. Augustine Campus, the one-year training programme aims to build nursing capacity in the Caribbean by developing highly-skilled clinical nurses who are also leaders that advocate for patients and their families, conduct quality improvement initiatives, and mentor other health care providers to deliver safe and effective paediatric care.

In lauding the Programme’s results so far, Republic Bank’s managing Director and CEO, Mr. Anthony Clerk, said the training of nurses is an appropriate fulfillment of the mandate of the Bank’s Power to Make a Difference (PMAD) corporate social responsibility programme, PMAD encompasses pillars including the Power to Care; the Power to Learn; the Power to Help; and the Power to Succeed.

“We are pleased as a regional banking institution to help in providing nurses with the training they need to adequately treat and care for vulnerable Caribbean children,” Clerk said.

The Centre for Global Child Health (C-GCH) at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is a hub for global child health-focused activities, dedicated to research and capacity building in resource-constrained environments.

SCI was established by C-GCH in 2013, with the support of SickKids Foundation, as a partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), Ministries of Health, hospitals and institutions in six Caribbean countries, including Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.