Nov. 22, 2002 – The University of the Virgin Islands Nursing Division presents a lecture by C. Alicia Watlington Georges, Ed. D, RN, FAAN, as part of the Nursing Leaders Lecture Series. The educator, practitioner and community activist will lecture on "Health Care in the 21st Century: Challenges for the Nursing Profession."
Georges will make a presentation at 1 p.m. Monday in room R100 in the nursing complex on the St. Croix campus. She will speak at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Chase Auditorium (B110) on the St. Thomas campus.
Georges, a native Virgin Islander, is the president of the National Black Nurses Foundation and chairwoman of the nursing department at Lehman College of the City University of New York.
Her involvement in nursing spans three decades. She holds licenses to practice nursing in New York, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands. In 1994 she formed CAG Home Health Services in the V.I., a business approved as a continuing education provider by the V.I. Board of Nurse Licensure.
Trish Smith, UVI nursing professor and organizer of the event, said that challenges in the nursing profession include dealing with the worldwide nursing shortage and addressing issues such as the aging population, advances in new technology, access to health care, access to health insurance and disparities in health care for minorities.
"There's a perception that nurses just make beds, give medication and give baths," Smith said. "Nurses not only have to be care providers, they have to be educators, clinicians, counselors and researchers. Nurses play a collaborative role in coordinating with multi-disciplinary agencies and they also have to be advocates for the patients."
Smith added that the need for further education will be essential for nurses, given the emergence of new technology and new health care methods of the 21st century.
Local nurses who attend the lecture can earn one contact hour of continuing education credit.
The Nursing Leaders Lecture Series, sponsored by the Bennie and Martha Benjamin Foundation, seeks to bring nationally and internationally recognized American nursing leaders to the V.I. community.
For more information, call the Nursing Division at 693-1290.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
