Rosie Bistoquet elected new president of nurses association |05 February 2016

Rosie Bistoquet has been elected the new president of the Nurses Association of the Republic of Seychelles (Nars).

The election is held every two years and this time there were 49 members of the association present to vote.

Ms Bistoquet received 30 votes compared to 16 votes for her opponent Gina Michel, with three votes considered void.

The newly elected secretary is Marie Helen Niole and Greg Vadivelo is the treasurer.

Ten executive committee members were also elected and they are Monica Servina, Julita William, Peggy Azemia, Beryl Valentin, Georgette Furneau, Anselmine Cafrine, Marie Jenny Camille, Noellie Mellie, Denise Mathiot and Jeanine Marimba.

The election took place in the presence of health principal secretary Peggy Vidot, members of Nars, other nurses and midwives.

Before the election a meeting was held during which the outgoing president, Elsia Sinon, who completed two whole terms, read out the Nars 2014-2015 report.

She thanked all the executive members and other Nars members who have worked hard to ensure that they sustained a strong and visible association and those who trusted and supported her during her second tenure as president.

Ms Sinon said as a team much has been achieved during her term in office though at times they were faced with minimum manpower to carry out activities.

“Nursing can be stressful both physically and mentally, with new demands and expectations piled on almost daily. Too often these days, nurses go home frustrated because we cannot achieve to the full extent of our capabilities. As usual Nars activities are mostly done outside our working hours and on a voluntary basis as we are an NGO and we do not have a secretariat,” she said.

As per the association’s constitution, Ms Sinon will remain on the board as an honorary member for a year for any advice or support.

Since last year the Nars constitution that has been amended was sent to an attorney mid-December 2015 to be placed in legal terms.

With the help of Jill Illife Nars has opened an account with Namesco, the United Kingdom (UK) website and IP provider and CNMF had purchased the software and domain name: seychellesnursesassociation and the webspace will be launched soon.

Fund raising activities were through sponsored walks and sales of flags during nurses’ day.

The challenges the association faces is to have a secretariat as it does not have an office, there is retention and recruitment of members, commitment and involvement of members and newsletter which are not being sustained on a periodic basis.

In May this year the association will be celebrating 39 years and up to date they have 52 paid members.

Upcoming events include ARC meeting on February 16-19 in Johannesburg for quad members and a third CNMF conference in the UK on March 12-13 under the theme ‘Celebrating Nursing and Midwifery Leadership’.

The East, Central and Southern Africa College of Nursing (Ecsacon), the Ministry of Health of Kenya and its partners are organising the 12th scientific conference to be held in Nairobi from September 7-9, 2016.

Ms Bistoquet said she feels it is her duty to uphold the nursing profession.

“I am contributing my time on a voluntary basis, I get nothing materialistic or financial in return as I do it out of compassion and for the love of my profession,” she said.

She noted that a lot of work needs to be done in capacity building, making sure the nurses are well trained, ensure a high standard of professionalism is maintained and mobilising their resources.

“We have to ensure the mechanism is set in place to achieve all this and we cannot do it alone, we need the help of stakeholders which could be locally or internationally to uphold and support us in our cause,” she said.