To encourage the territory’s students to take up nursing as a career, the V.I. State Nurses Association is sponsoring an essay and poster contest with prizes of up to $75 in savings bonds.
"We decided to do this because of the national challenge in terms of recruiting nurses," said Verna Christian-Garcia, a registered nurse who serves as secretary to the board.
The deadline for submissions is Sept. 18. The winners will be announced when the State Nurses Association holds its annual convention Oct. 10 and 11 at the Palms Court Harborview Hotel on St. Thomas.
The winning posters will be on display and Christian-Garcia said excerpts from the essays will be read.
In a statement, Sen. Louis P. Hill urged kids to enter the contest and to become nurses. "Good nurses, both male and female, are never out of a job no matter how poor the economy," he said.
Hill pointed out that the need is great for nurses in the Virgin Islands, but that recruiting is a challenge. This forces the territory’s hospitals to obtain nurses from the mainland through stateside traveling nurses programs.
He said that recruiting nurses from the local population would be a significant cost-saving measure for the government because traveling nurses cost the government additional housing and allied expenses.
Christian-Garcia said the contest is also held in conjunction with the organization’s 60th anniversary. Nurses across the Virgin Islands formed the State Nurses Association in 1949. Christian-Garcia said they became affiliated with the national organization in 1954.
The poster contest theme is "What is a Nurse?" There is a category for youths in grades kindergarten through third grade and another category for children in grades four through eight.
Christian-Garcia said she didn’t have any idea what sort of posters the children would make.
"They might draw a nurse with a halo or with two horns or attacking them with a hypodermic," she said with a laugh. "Children are so creative," she said.
The theme for the essays is "Where Have You Heard a Nurse’s Voice?" Essays should be 250 to 300 words. The essay contest categories are grades nine to 12 and college students.
First price in each category is a $75 savings bond. Second prize is a $50 savings bond. Third prize is a $25 savings bond.
Essays and small posters may be mailed to P.O. Box 3617, Christiansted, St. Croix, VI, 00822. Posters may also be dropped off at The Medicine Shoppe at Sunny Isle, St. Croix or Dockside Bookshop in Havensight Mall, St. Thomas.
For more information, call Christian-Garcia at 778-8328 or Mary Edwards at 778-1738.
