March 4, 2007 — She is known to many simply as "Nurse," or "Granny."
Most do not know that her given name is Mucette Lucina Loretta Odlum Canaii, or that in November she will celebrate her 82nd birthday.
That's because Mrs. Canaii, as she is also called, is a regular, spunky fixture at many church and cultural activities around St. Croix — especially if the St. Lucia Association is hosting the activity.
"I've been here since the 30th of April, 1979 — 28 years — the same year St. Lucia had its independence," Canaii says, her keen mind always at work, listing off historical details that most people much younger don't remember.
A Catholic Priest added the name "Lucina" when she was baptized "on December 13 — the same day of St. Lucy's birthday," Canaii says. Back in St. Lucia, she says, children were often named after saints.
Canaii, who was born in Castries, St. Lucia, has called St. Croix home since moving here with her husband, the late Phillip Oliver Canaii. Together the couple had eight children, and all except for one can be identified with the initials ABC. A daughter, Lorna, is her eldest, followed by sons Andre, Allison, Arnold, Arthur, and Alvin, and a second daughter, Arlene, whose twin brother died at birth.
She wasn't sad when she learned that one of her children had died at birth, Canaii says.
"I already had five boys and girl," she says.
Last month, Canaii was lauded as an honorary member of the St. Lucia Association at its annual dinner-dance, held to commemorate the Caribbean island's independence from Great Britain on Feb. 22, 1979.
"I haven't missed one celebration," she says proudly. Canaii is usually among the first to arrive and the last to leave at many of the functions. And, though she doesn't get around much, she manages to sell a good number of tickets to any event held by the group.
Canaii says she could live without electricity, but not a phone.
"I'm a senior citizen," she explained. "If something happens to me, I need to be able to call someone."
As loved and respected as she is here, she's an icon in St. Lucia, where she worked 35 years as a nurse. She singlehandedly saw to the care of a parish of about 10,000 residents, according to a 1993 article in the Crusader, a newspaper in St. Lucia. Her brother, the late George Odlum, owned the paper. He was a scholar and politician, and a sports stadium was named for him.
In addition to her children, Canaii is the adopted mother of many, especially back in Micoud, the village in St. Lucia where she served as "nurse-doctor" for decades.
The Crusader article noted that Canaii "was lovingly referred to as 'nurse,' or 'Sister Canaii,' as she was the only nurse in the areas to service over 10,000 people, who continue to love and respect her dearly."
Back in 1946 when she began a nursing career that would span 35 years, Canaii says, it was normal to deliver babies at home, and recalls that she had many interrupted and sleepless nights.
Dedication and a love for the people she cared for made it easy to wake up when a call came in the middle of the night, grab her nursing bag and begin trekking on foot with only a flashlight illuminating the way.
"I was the only nurse there for three nearby communities until they had their own center," she says. "The doctor would come once a week to the health center, so it was just me. Sometimes I had two homes to go to. I would deliver one and move on the next home."
On St. Croix Canaii, who walks with a cane, depends on friends and family for transportation. There's church on Sundays, grocery shopping and a host of cultural activities — even dances.
"I like to socialize," she says. "I like to go out and meet people."
When she's not socializing on weekends, she spends weekdays at Aldersville Community Center in Frederiksted, which is run by the Human Services Department. Canaii says she looks forward to going to the center to socialize with friends, including Eulalie Rivera, noted former educator and grandmother of Sen. Ronald Russell, who is approaching her 100th birthday in August.
On many of those outings, she says, she runs into people calling her "nurse" who remind her that she is the reason they're in the world today: "They will say, 'Remember me?' And usually when they tell me who their mother or father is, I will know that it's little Johnny or somebody I delivered all those years ago."
When she moved to St. Croix in 1979, Canaii had plans to continue nursing, but her nursing credentials were not on par with that of the U.S. Virgin Islands. This meant she would have to take more classes, start from the bottom and work her way up. Her children made the decision for her to retire.
"My boys said, 'No way — 35 years as a nurse in St. Lucia, and you have to start from the beginning here? We will go and work for you,'" Canaii says with a laugh. "I have been happily retired since."
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