Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The best insight, feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5. Good Morning Again Trinidad and Tobago and welcome. Today we are pleased to be joined by these outstanding nurses or nursing professionals representing Team Shift Change, a group contesting the upcoming Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing association election which takes place on September 9th to 2026. And joining us is Avian Drayton Bailey and Ms. Alicia Edwards. We had a third person but they decide circumstances. Let me hear you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Hi. All right.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: I just want to make sure which mics you all guy you guys are running see we have plenty mic in the studio. All right. So thank you very much ladies for being here and welcome to the morning rumble on Freedom 106.5 FM. How are you ladies this morning? You all nervous? No, you can't be nervous. And only going up a big election part of this.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: His term has ended so he would not be contesting these elections.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: He's not contesting. So you all have a constitution written
[00:01:05] Speaker C: where yes, you only allowed three terms and he would have completed his three terms.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: We had to get a constitutional that on the bigger stage. Boy, if only I could pull off that. So Ed, he could come back as a consultant then maybe an advisor.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: He can. Or in a subsequent election. He can. He must wait out one term also.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: He served three terms back to back, back to back.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: He has to wait out one, wait
[00:01:28] Speaker A: out one and then he could come
[00:01:29] Speaker C: back again if he wants, if he chooses.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yes, Fuller like headache but it's not easy walking up.
So to begin, tell our listeners a little bit about Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing association and the important role it plays. Who wants to jump in?
[00:01:43] Speaker C: So I would jump in. Good morning to our listening audience.
The Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing association is a professional association as well as a trade union. We have been existence since 1930.
So this is our 96th year as a professional association. And in the year 2014 we became a registered trade union.
So you would see we do have membership under the Joint Trade Union Movement Jatum so you would see us with them at times.
The Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association. In addition to being here in Trinidad, we are members of the Caribbean Nurses Organization organization as well as the Commonwealth Nursing and Midwives Federation and the International Council of Nurses.
So we have membership roles in those umbrella organizations as well.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Congratulations and thank you very much for that information. Now the name shift change as a real timely name given the four hour shifting that you all were dealing with. I mean it really grabbing attention. So tell us about the team and why you all choose that name.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Well, shift change is really a critical time in nursing. It's where the most pertinent information is handed over to the next shift. You want to ensure that the staff are equipped to treat the patients. We want to make sure we have all the information.
So in shift change, within our fraternity, it's time for election. We have stepped forward. We are a diverse team. We are a capable team, experienced and
[00:03:22] Speaker A: we are ready to lead song in that way.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Boy, we have a mix of rules by the tt.
[00:03:28] Speaker C: Yes, yes, definitely.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: We have a diverse team. We are experienced. I'm a licensed midwife.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Well, all right. So tell us about the team shift change and which executive positions are they contesting for the upcoming elections?
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Well, we don't want to spill all the beans one time, but I'll give you a little insight as we get closer. When nomination closes, we would officially release our candidates. But our tentative candidates, who are very strong and able are Ms. Avi Andreyton Bailey. She is the creme de la creme. She is our candidate for president of the association and she is more than able. She sits at the Caribbean Nursing Organization Board, presently representing Trinidad and Tobago. She has represented us at ICN International Council of Nursing in Finland and Switzerland. So she has external experience as well as local.
Then we have Ms. Kelda Cornwall Gomez.
She is going for the position of second Vice president which is an industrial relations position.
Kelda Cornwall, unfortunately, who's not here with us today.
She is the first nursing assistant enrolled nursing assistant to sit on the TTNNA board board who is going to represent our country? All of our nurses, nursing personnel, midwives, ENAs as our industrial relations specialists, followed by Ms. Natasha Prince. She hails from Sandy Grande, neonatal nurse, pediatric nurse specialist representing the east, well known throughout Trinidad and Tobago, having been on the board as well.
She will be in the position of first Vice president followed by Elizabeth George, Assistant secretary.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: And Elizabeth is from San Fernando. She's the chair of the Southern branch. She is a ICU nurse. And we also have Ms. Sharon Lakan who will be going up for the position of General Secretary. Ms. Lakhan is very knowledgeable in industrial relations and policies and she would be a force to reckon with as Gen Sec.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: So there you have it, Devi. We have psychiatric nurse nurses, enrolled nursing assistants, midwife, general nurses, ICU specialists, emergency care specialists. So we have the best interests of all our nurses at heart. We are able to represent because we have come up the ranks.
I myself, I'm a frontliner. I'm actively on duty on my daily work schedule. So I know the needs of the midwives, and I know the needs of the patients. So we are here, and we are ready to represent.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: You know, I have a schedule here, but you all are such pleasant ladies for nurses. You know, you all represent the fraternity. Well, I must say, folks, if you all can check us out, we're streaming live. You can see these two professionals in the studio with us chatting this morning. I want to ask you guys a question outside of my regular. The other two questions I have for you. What is the biggest misconception the public have against nurses that you think you would like to, you know, put out there and say, listen, that is not fact. It's just fiction.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: I would like to answer that question.
We always hear nurses have bad attitudes. That's one of the first things that people see.
1. You have to put everything into context. I am not saying that they are not nurses that have some bad attitudes, but I'm saying that they are one in a dozen, one in a hundred, maybe one in 200.
But we have to remember that when patients seek medical help or health care, they are at their lowest.
Yeah, they ill, they were home, they were working good, and they get in an incident, they fell, they got a heart attack or whatever. They are at their most high stressed area. And we always have this narrative of nurses being very comforting, you know, touching, hold your hand, hug your pursuit.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: So that's how I feel when I see all of you this morning and
[00:07:51] Speaker C: all you're talking, you know, because we are not in the setting. But you have to remember that in these crisis situations, nurses have a different role. They need to be decisive, they need to be analytical, they need to be critical thinkers. They need to be observing their patient and to know what is best for them. Trinidadians don't always follow what is best for them.
So when you come into the hospital and the first thing the nurse says is that you're not allowed to eat or drink anything until you see the doctor. It's not, as the patient relative wouldn't say, but my mother eats since morning, and this, that and the other. There are many tests that we have to do that requires it on an empty stomach.
Yeah.
So if you had to, let's say you have a abdominal pain and you have to get an ultrasound or so forth. We can't have you just having a full meal and going to do an ultrasound. What would they see? They would see the meal.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: Okay. So you find that you have to be empty then. If it is that, we want to do baseline tests, such as Your blood sugar levels and so forth. You can't eat a meal and then take a diascan test. It's going to be ridiculously high and you are not going to get a true picture of what is going on with the patient. Now of course there are some things that we will put into consideration. Let's say the patient is diabetic and would need to eat because their last meal was how long ago. Then we would laze with the doctor and say, well here what the patient didn't eat for a while, we don't want them to become hypoglycemic.
So we will probably offer them and say, well okay, you could have a sweetened juice, you know, so there is a compromise.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: But in a case like that, why not get the test done a bit, you know, fast track the test because of the fact that this patient is diabetic.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: Because, because we have a healthcare system where we are on overload.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Understood?
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:48] Speaker C: So you may have a long waiting list of persons already waiting for the procedure. And in Trinidad, you know, everybody judges who now come and say, but I hear waiting all the time, they are not going to that we are fast tracking this person because their blood sugar is low and we need them to get the test before they eat or drink something. So a lot of patients, they don't consider the other things that are going on in the background. And you know, they say the nurse rough up. No, the nurse is probably being very decisive at this moment for your best
[00:10:18] Speaker B: interest because the nurse is the face that the patient interacts with the most. So we are the one most likely to get the blame. But we at shift change, we are saying to our colleagues, have a little bit of patience with them. And we are saying to the public, have a little bit of patience with us. We are here to work with you to ensure that you get treated.
You mentioned nurses being hostile or being thought to be hostile. We are asking the clients, the members of the public to understand, as my colleague said, we have a lot going on in the background and you have a responsibility to assert yourself. You have a responsibility to, to yourself to ask questions so you can understand what is taking place. Our colleagues, our peers, nurses, midwives, ENAs. We also have a responsibility to communicate with the patients. A little bit of communication, let them know we have a delay. Persons are more likely to cooperate and get less hostile, you know, and that's
[00:11:18] Speaker A: a very, very critical point. I'm not taking away from the, the crux of what we're discussing with team shift change, but I think I love the way you could be a politician. We're tighty nicely, boy. No, but it's the truth. You personally took an opportunity and decided to visit a health center. I didn't need to. Well, I needed medical attention, but I needed to go. I could have gone privately, spend my money, but I decided let me go to the system. And I sat at a particular health center in the east and I sat there for close to two hours. I'm not going to lie. But I observed the situation that was happening in the health center. It wasn't crowded. Could be about 16 of us seeking medical attention at intervals. And then I observe a person coming. This was the 16th person at the time and we was going through, so we'd be showing about nine of us still. And then this person come in, whatever they talk and they say, they end up in a room and the balance of the people start to get in an uproar. But then there was this oneness.
She didn't get ignorant, arrogant or hognorant as we say in Trinidad. But she came out and she explained this patient is diabetic.
When we look at their results, their readings was through the roof. This person could have gone into a coma. We had to address them as quickly as possible, stabilize the patient. Because if we are treating with you who are not in that critical stage, this person could have passed away.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: And I found that, yes.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: But then another person jump up and say why are you telling people business? So I mean, let's tell people business is confident, but you're angry because you don't know. So even if the nurse tell you this person's levels was a bit elevated and we needed to address this because of a comatose state that was pending another person sitting right there. So only let's tell people people business. I had a good. This is, this is madness. But then you're quarreling because the person walks in and within minutes they got treated and you see them coming back out and they about. Because it took about 20 to 30 minutes, the person came back out and then decided, you know, while he was teaching with others. And they find. But how them nori who they know inside the hair. But then you get the information and now you're questioning whether privacy and you know, confidentiality is being met.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: So the nurses most of the time are in a lose, lose position. Okay.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: They couldn't win. And I witnessed that first time. It took me about, about 45 minutes after that.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: So yeah, but still.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: But I got through and the nurses was pleasant.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: So the tide is changing. The tide is shifting.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Right? That's why I'm not gonna ask you what's the vision now for team shift? You know what, you all have any future for the midwives and, and nursing in the future? You know, what's that vision that we can look forward to?
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Well, we are pressing for continuous education and we are envisioning our colleagues being empowered and knowing their rights and their capability to speak up and as we just discussed, communicate. Because many times persons will complain. My mom on the ward, I don't know what's going on.
But you nursing personnel, you have a responsibility to let her know her mom's condition day to day. Without going into too many details, we do nursing assessments so you can report on that. Whether she is less anxious, whether she's responding to the treatment, whether they need to visit more. Because many times clients are in the hospital for long periods of time and they have no visitors. And this will impact on their care, this will impact on their response to the treatment. Whether you are feeling isolated, you are dejected, nobody is coming, you are worried. Sometimes they don't eat.
They don't eat until they see their relatives. So it is your responsibility, family members to check in and we will give you the feedback we need to empower our nurses. And we are here working with them. When I meet my clients on a daily basis, I begin with introductions, I let them know who I am. We wear our name badges and we go the distance.
So we want to ensure that persons are not afraid of us. We are not hugs, we are caregivers, we are professionals.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: You know what I speak to us. You know what I love about what you are saying this morning? And one person says to me on the WhatsApp. That's an excellent response by the news. Here's what I love about what you've been saying since you sat down, my client.
You didn't say the government people and all the government clan, you know, even though the healthcare system, the healthcare is free of charge, you all are paid to do a job. You refer to the person as a client and a client and a business is the very important person to that business.
They're the ones that makes the business. You're my client. I have to seek my clients interests. And that mindset, I believe, is the vision that you all are going to take to the wider populace, the wider body when it comes to this election day. That's on the horizon. Yeah.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Yes. So of course, you know, as we said, shift change. We also have to change the public's perception of nursing and again, we are professionals, as I said, we belong to different bodies.
We have our relationships with local entities like our Nursing council, which was birthed by the Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association. They are our daughter, as I like to say.
But we also have a vision for nursing personnel.
We need to strengthen our collective agreement.
We are currently working with the Eastern Regional Health Authority and we are hoping that once we complete this exercise, we will be able to roll it out to all the nurses in Trinidad and Tobago. We want to continue to strengthen our IR unit and our member capacity.
So as I said, we are a trade union and we have a heavy focus on industrial relations.
We also have something called a staff representative in the different health institutions and we normally offer them training at Cypriani Labor College so that they can understand the grievance process, how to go prepare documents for Ministry of Labor to go in front of the Industrial court. So sometimes when you enter nursing, you never know where you would end up. Ms. Edwards, neither myself thought we would have been trade unionists when we entered nursing. But because of the needs of our nurses in the organization and we see where the employer does not really care about the healthcare professional themselves, you know, nurses were forced to now take up additional roles and that's how we are now from a professional association into trade union. And now we have to fight for our nurses to ensure that they are in proper work environments, ensure that they get proper rights, treatment and so forth. So as much as we advocate for patients, we have to advocate for our nurses.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Now, Miss Billy, let me tell you something as you're talking about your journey. When I began in nursing school in 2005 at Porter Spain General, the facilities were very direct. Now I came from private into a public system. So when I started, Imagine the washrooms had no tissue, you know, very common in public buildings where they let things run down and they had no soap, basic amenities. The building was really in a state.
So my class, BN18, a really vibrant group, we stepped forward and we started to ask questions. We wanted this rectified. How could you be teaching us about health care? And there's no health care for US, no sanitation, etc. So we took this, it was UNC government, actually. We took this matter and we went down to the Ministry of Education building and we spoke to the minister and he came and he made a spot check when he came and he saw the facilities immediately he renovated the school and the classroom. And you know, I have been very active in ensuring that health workers get their just due when we move from A professional association to hybrid trade union and professional association. I was part of that journey. Recruiting nurses, letting them know what we need, what we envision and where we can go. And as Ms. Bailey is sharing today, we have really grown. Our membership has grown from a few hundreds to many thousands. And nurses are waking up. Nurses and enrolled nursing assistants, assistants, midwives, PCAs. We want better. In order to give better, equip us.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: You all have just unearthed a can of worms. Right now you have people petitioning. Somebody is saying good morning Davey. Can you please ascertain the route to apply for psychiatric nursing jobs with your guests? Another one is saying, how can I get into the nursing fraternity? People are. Now you see, I told you all these ladies were pleasant.
People want to be recruited. People are interested.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Psychiatricness, right?
[00:20:23] Speaker C: So you need to have five O levels, including maths, English and a science subject. And then you proceed to the nursing Council of Trinidad and Tobago with copies of your certification.
And you have to fill out a letter, it's like a letter template stating why you want to enter the nursing profession. I think it's a hundred dollars. And then you get a student nurse number. Once you have that student nurse number, you.
The psychiatric nurse program is only offered which costat and yeah just cost that only at this present time. So you proceed to cost stat. Let them know that you would like to apply for the nursing program and you submit your documents and once successful they would call you for you to start the program.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: But if you do have that five O levels but problems.
[00:21:16] Speaker C: Yes, because remember, nursing is a profession. Right? The entry level into nursing is a bachelor of science degree now.
Yes, in training law. So it's not just you walk off the street and you become a nurse. It's a four year study.
Once you get your bachelor of science degree, you can later on decide whatever specialty that you're interested in.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Wonderful, wonderful. You all have garnered interest. You know, people want to become a nurse. Now boy, please don't be scared by the enshrined in law bachelor's degree on your 5o levels you could get that those things are still attainable, you know. And finally, you know, why should members of your association place their confidence in team shift change on September 9th, election day?
[00:22:01] Speaker C: Well, team shift change represents the nursing profession. As Ms. Edwards said earlier on, we are a very diverse team of nurses ranging from ICU trained nurse, psychiatric nurses, oncology, oncology, midwives. Midwives.
And we have our first enrolled nursing assistant with us.
She specialists in wound care and she has a bachelor of science degree in Industrial relationship from Cipriani. She graduated last year.
Yes. So we are a really diverse team of persons. We have been involved in TTNNA for years, giving volunteer service and now we want to offer up ourselves for more.
We really believe that the combination of qualifications and experiences with this team is the best way forward for the nursing and midwifery profession in Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Ladies, I want to thank you very much for coming in and shar some vision on this insightful conversation. I mean you've been listening to Team Shift. Edwards represented, not Edward. Sorry. Team Shift change. Team Shift Change by Alicia Edwards and Avion.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: See all them long names with Mr. Bailey. Mr. Bailey, good morning.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: I am offering myself for the position of treasurer and you, you're getting safe to test.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: All right, I agree, I agree. And I want to thank you all outside of the regular for really sharing some insight. You all talk about analytics and this decisive decision, critical thinkers. We didn't, I didn't always understand the some of the aggression we will get from time to time. But you all have cleared that issue up. And I beg the public seek the medical attention when it's absolutely necessary. Don't put an actual burden on the system but for something like the common cold, you know, deal with it and if need be, go to them. And I do wish you guys all the success on June, on September 9th. I can't vote for you all, but I'm rooting for you all. Freedom on a 6.5 FME. Back in earlier. We're behind Thief Shift Change.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Have a good one.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: Ladies, it was a pleasure.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: All right.
The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
