Twenty-one Bermuda residents have been awarded diplomas in asthma care by the National Respiratory Training Centre in North Carolina, after completing exams described by the director of the NRTC as ?the best papers ever graded?.

In a ceremony at Government House on Tuesday night, Lady Vereker officially presented the diploma certificates to the successful candidates, who included a broad range of healthcare practitioners from physicians and nurses to physiotherapists and pharmacists.

Open Airways, a charity which aims to better the quality of life of those who suffer from asthma, allergy and other respiratory diseases, sponsored the initiative and director Liz Boden heralded the culmination of six months of study as a ?truly special occasion?.

?The NRTC diploma is a very hard course, which many fail,? she said. ?It is to everybody?s great credit that you passed with flying colours.

?But that was the easy part. The challenge now is to go out into the community and make a real difference in people?s lives.?

Those awarded their diplomas on Tuesday night were: Dr. Roslyn Bascome-Adams, Dr. Henry Dowling, Dr. Wesley Miller, Dawn Brown, Veronica Cabral, Claudia Clarke, Andrew Daley, Rachel Andrade,

Carmelita Francis-Pitcher, Fiaer Halewood, Sarah Howse, Anne-Marie Jarrett, Eirian Jones, Synda Perry, Glenna Rose-Williams, Catie Spruit-Wharton, Kate Thomson, Keechie Tuckett, Vinayasya Vijayakmar, Cleopatra Wallace and Mandy Ingham.