When a nation frustrates and disrespects the nursing profession — the very people to whom the bulk of patient care is entrusted, and who make the real difference in patient care and outcomes….

… When, as I oftentimes saw during my 2009-2011 tenure, there is often a single registered nurse manning an entire hospital ward during night shifts at the KHMH—the national hospital…

… When their Bliss School of Nursing on the KHMH campus was hijacked in times past by government departments that had nothing to do with nursing, then allowed to fall into disrepair…

… When this very Bliss School of Nursing which also emphasized Practical Nursing education that generated scores of nurses who were on the ground in the hospital from day one (who learned while working plus weren’t the targets of foreign recruiters)…

… When the above was replaced by 2-3 years of classroom-only education on the UB campus in Belmopan … instead of occurring in the hospital (Nursing and Medicine are and remain apprenticeships.)…

… When the medical authorities ignore the importance of scores of our retired senior nurses who can still make valuable inputs at the KHMH (and other hospitals) but are instead put out to pasture, disrespected and ignored, without an appreciation of the fact that a nurse is always a national asset that should not be ‘retired’…

… When the Faculty of Nursing leaders and non-visionary leadership at the University of Belize (UB) don’t take seriously that their core mandate and responsibility, that the primary purpose of UB, is to fill the national needs of the country — with no shortage of Belizeans to recruit and train …

… And then having to resort to foreigners who often lack deep understanding of the Belizean language and culture — made worse by them getting more perks and benefits than our Belizean nurses….

… When our nurses (I can speak volumes on this.) don’t feel the love and care from their authorities and country and naturally gravitate to those who promise such….

… We are then wittingly or unwittingly blind.

If the Belizean nation and authorities insist on remaining blind to these and related issues, perhaps it’s worth considering the likelihood that our nation is not just on the slippery slope, but standing on the precipice.