A month-long celebration of the nursing profession came to a close with a candlelit ceremony at Barr’s Bay Park last night.

In keeping with the theme of Nurses Month 2022, Triumphantly We Move Forward, keynote speaker Gaynell Hayward-Caesar highlighted how the profession must move forward post pandemic.

Renée Faulcon, president of the Bermuda Nurses Association, said: “Over the last two years we been through a pandemic and nurses have been working hard — doing more overtime, working in different areas and receiving crossed training. They have been trying times.

“Now that we are coming out of it, we are looking to see how the profession can move forward and to demonstrate to people that we can have newer roles in nursing beyond the bedside.

“The essence of Dr Gaynell Hayward-Caesar’s speech was about nurses who have done great things in the past in Bermuda — nurses who created their own jobs, became entrepreneurs. She spoke about what we should do going forward so that nurses can work to their full scope.”

Dr Hayward-Caesar recently achieved a Doctorate of Nursing Practice.

Ms Faulcon, a registered nurse and nurse educator at Bermuda College, highlighted the relatively new area of nurse practitioning — which includes advanced training and certification enabling nurses to be more autonomous in their practice.

“We would like to have more nurses in Bermuda across the scope of the nursing practice,” she added.

This year is the National League for Nursing’s Year of the Nurse Educator and celebrations are planned to mark it, Ms Faulcon said.

Nurses Month takes place in May. This year it included a church service at Mount Zion AME Church in Southampton and a celebratory lunch at Bella Vista Bar and Grill in Southampton at which Irena Ashton was named the 2022 Nurse of the Year.