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Heartline Magazine January - March 2005
Reaching Optimum Levels - CDP&R Director sets high standards
By Tony Cumberbatch
Straight from school and into nursing. That was the route
taken by Shirley Gill when she left the Alexandra School in St. Peter in 1972,
and joined the staff of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Graduating from the
Tercentenary School of Nursing in 1976 with a certificate in general nursing,
she dedicated her life to the caring profession and served a total of 25 years
at the QEH.
In a full and productive career at the QEH Mrs. Gill served
as a medical surgical nurse from 1977 to 1984 before becoming certified in
intensive care nursing and joining the staff in the medical intensive care unit
from1984 to 1987. After receiving training in midwifery from the Barbados
Community College in1988 she worked as a general nurse after which she took up
the position of Midwife.
In 1997 she took up the position of Manager of the Cardiac
Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation (CDP&R) programme at the Heart
Foundation of Barbados (HFOB) and was advised to apply for secondment on grounds of public
policy, since the HFOB is recognized by government as an important health care
institution. She formally resigned her position as staff nurse at the QEH in
April 2004.
Overseas stints included a nursing practicum in Psychiatric
and Intensive Care Nursing at the Greater South East Community Hospital,
Washington DC from May to August 1990, and a practicum in Cardiovascular and
Pulmonary Rehabilitation at the Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm beach,
Florida during January and February 1997.
It was a rather unhappy incident, as she puts it, which led
her to an interest in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). “Some years ago it
was reported in the news that a young girl was raped and strangled. This girl
was apparently gasping when she was found but when rescuers got to her she was
dead. I felt within myself that if the first persons finding the girl had known
CPR she might have been saved. I began to think that everyone should know CPR
and I resolved that I would get the necessary training which would empower me to
impart that knowledge to others.”
True to her promise, Mrs. Gill received training in CPR at
the Heart Foundation and in 1990 was certified as a Basic Cardiac Life Support (BLS)
instructor by the Canadian Heart Association. By 1997 she had stepped up her
level to become a BLS Instructor Trainer, accredited by the American Heart
Association.
Further training saw her being accredited by the American
Heart Association as an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) provider. She is
currently a CPR Instructor with the HFOB.
“It is very important that nurses be certified in basic
cardiac life support“ she said, “after all they are at the frontline of patient
care, and should have every means at their disposal to provide excellent
service. Knowing BLS procedures, including the use of the Automated
Defibrillator and other equipment, should be standard for people at that level
in health care. We at the Heart Foundation are quite prepared to provide that
instruction.”
Expanding her sphere of interest, she received a Family Life
Education certificate from the University of the West Indies in 1994, and an
ACSM Exercise specialist certificate from the American College of Sports
Medicine in 2002.
Mrs. Gill added to her academic achievements with a B.Sc.
degree from the University of the West Indies in 2002, majoring in Sociology.
Why Sociology? “I wanted to know more about our social environment”, she said,
“which is fundamentally what sociology is all about. I find the courses I took
to be very helpful in my work at the Heart Foundation, not only in terms of my
interaction with the clients but with my colleagues as well, and in life in
general.”
She is very firm in her belief that all nurses should be
understanding of human behaviour and their response to this behaviour.
The Cardiac Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation unit of
the Heart Foundation of Barbados was set up in 1994, and only recently, on
January 28th held an Open Day to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The CDP&R
programme is designed to help persons who have had a cardiac event, such as a
heart attack or heart surgery, or who are at risk of having one, to reach
optimal health. This is achieved through exercise, teaching and counseling. The
programme includes lecture sessions by health care professionals on various
subjects.
“Exercise is very important to health”, stressed the CDP&R
director. “But what is even more important, is that people do the right kind of
exercise, one that suits their need and capability. Poor exercise patterns do
not produce any benefits. We at the HFOB stress the importance of warming up
before exercise and cooling down after. Just as a vehicle engine needs to be
first warmed up in order to perform well, so too the human machine needs to warm
up in order to enjoy the full benefits of exercising. Our exercise progamme is
structured so that each client gets individual attention. We design each
person’s programme so that they operate at their own level of competency,
allowing them to achieve optimum benefits.”
“The CDP&R programme educates persons about heart disease,
the risk factors of heart disease and how to change them. We also teach about
the benefits of good nutritional habits to heart health.”
“Counseling is an important part of the CDP&R programme”,
said Mrs. Gill. “In fact we want to step up our counseling programme and focus a
bit more on stress management. We are considering introducing sessions in
relaxation where persons can come in and de-stress, not just exercise. We would
like our clients to learn how to manage their stress more effectively, through
education and relaxation techniques.”
“I would also like to see stress tests and other heart tests
being done at the Heart Foundation. We also need to be more involved in
educating the public about heart disease and the importance of prevention. This
may involve getting back in the schools and reviving the Healthy Heart Clubs and
giving public lectures.
She continued: “Not enough is done for public patients in
the health care system. I would personally like to see, for example, a liaison
formed between the QEH and the HFOB and a system put in place where cardiac
patients of the QEH are automatically referred to the CDP&R Unit of the HFOB.
This will ensure that those who have had a heart attack or heart surgery are
afforded the best possible rehabilitative care. Our facilities may have to be
expanded to accommodate this growth but this is the desired situation. Sounds
ambitious, yes. But nothing is too ambitious when considering the health of our
nation.”
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