For nurses who see the bedside as a stopping point, Antoinette Dyer-Stewart’s path shows what is possible.

While working full-time as an ICU nurse at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, she earned qualifications often assumed to be reserved for leadership roles — a PhD in public health and a doctorate in business administration.

At the same time, she drew on a network of colleagues she met through KEMH and built Bendigas Rophe Ministry, a charitable outreach programme that supports young people and the elderly.

Her efforts, Dr Dyer-Stewart said, are guided by a conviction that everyone has something to give. People in Bermuda and the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, India, Kenya and the Philippines benefit from both her professional knowledge and the monthly financial support she provides.

“When you look at the broader picture, why am I here? I really don't want my living to be in vain. At the very least I can leave an indelible mark or change one life in one country,” she said.

“For some people you can give money, but it's not everybody that needs money. Some people just need words of encouragement, empowerment or direction and then you see how they bloom, how they blossom.”

Her desire to serve others traces back to her family. In Jamaica, her grandmother was a midwife who delivered children without formal training; her mother followed a similar path helping others.

On completing her nursing qualifications, Dr Dyer-Stewart turned to God for help with her next steps.

“I said, ‘What is it that you want from me?’ Each of us, I believe we're here for a specific purpose, and we need to fulfil it. Don't wait until the final day and say, ‘Oh my God, I didn't tap into that.’ So I said, ‘What am I doing here at the bedside?’ ”

As a result, she devoted five years to an online PhD programme, earning a degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology in 2022. She then went back to school, receiving a doctor of business administration with specialisation in strategy and innovation last year.

“[God] told me that with the combination of both of them it will definitely help to deepen [my] expertise in disease patterns, data analysis and research — we can't go without that research to drive evidence-based public health interventions,” she said.

Pairing it with the DBA, God promised, would strengthen her business leadership and understanding of “policy designs and scalability solutions in healthcare”.

“[What that means is] helping persons where they're at with their socioeconomic status. If they can't afford certain things, we can go to their level and customise a healthy lifestyle for them to prevent chronic illness, illnesses that are preventable,” Dr Dyer-Stewart said.

Her hope is that other nurses see her accomplishments and understand that their careers don’t have to be confined to a single job description.

“People believe that you have to be in a leadership position. That you’d have to be a manager, or a clinical director, or have another position apart from the day-to-day mundane nursing routine job description [to achieve what I have]. They think it’s impossible for you to stay right there and obtain degrees, especially a terminal degree, let alone two,” she said.

“As a nurse, you can become whoever you want. It is not limited to just nursing school. They can go outside the boxes.”

Similarly, she doesn’t believe that meaningful humanitarian work requires formal structures or large organisations.

“You can do it independently,” she said. “You don’t have to be waiting on a church group, or any other charitable organisation or humanitarian project. You can actually be your own humanitarian and help others in your small way.”

As a nurse in KEMH’s busy intensive care unit, she understands that for medical professionals with demanding schedules, “it’s very difficult to say you’re going to schedule a time that you put aside to be a part of a group”, but she is proof that it can be done.

In the Philippines the emphasis has been on seniors and young people who struggle to afford basic necessities needed for school, such as toiletries, transportation or supplies. In the United States, assistance is directed through schools. In Bermuda the team had been assisting parents with school fees but the focus has changed to the elderly “because we realise that that is of more importance right now”.

In Jamaica, the work has centred on empowerment, particularly of young men, as well as support for youth groups, schools and churches — with a donation from The Royal Gazette, she was able to provide computers to encourage entrepreneurship there.

Managing it all alongside full-time nursing requires discipline.

“Everything is set up and everything is timetabled,” Dr Dyer-Stewart said.

She has about 50 people working with her, spread across the different countries to co-ordinate support locally. To each area, Dr Dyer-Stewart sends between US$2,000 and $2,500 of her own money per month.

“I don't think the church would love me saying this [but] I have a ministry running, so this is where my tithe goes,” she said. “Some months you do less, some months you do more, and that's just how it goes. If you give back then you get back right?”

Asked if she ever does something for herself, Dr Dyer-Stewart said that the work itself brings fulfilment.

“I really get joy out of helping others,” she said. “When they are happy, I’m actually elated. I feel comfortable. I’m full.”

Recently married to Raj Stewart, Dr Dyer-Stewart plans to pause formal study and focus on research and application and family.

• For more information on Bendigas Rophe Ministry, e-mail bendigasropheministries@gmail.com or follow Dr Antoinette Dyer-Stewart on YouTube, where she shares health-focused content and practical ways of living well on a limited budget