New nurse graduates eager to serve

29-year-old Margret Laban from Wusi village in West Coast Santo said she was so happy to attend VCNE as she want to help her people in her community.

“When I was in my home village, I often witnessed how people suffering with health problems and I really wanted to know how to take care of them and cure their ailments,” she said.

“I then had the opportunity to come to the nursing school and learn a lot of skills on how to take care of sick patients.”

Ms Laban shared there has been many challenges during her years in Nursing college, in terms of finance, assignments loads in the class. However, despite the stressful situations, they managed to overcome their challenges and were academically rewarded.

“The challenges we had encountered during the past three years also helped us a lot, the more they correct our failures in our workplaces or inside the classroom, the more we learn,” she said.

“The challenges develop our nursing career. Most of us are looking forward to going back to our villages and overall Vanuatu, to help our people.”

Lenix Vusi, a 23-year-old from Tuturu village in Big Bay, Santo, said there is lack of nursing services there.

“Where I come from, there are only a few nurses,” he said. “I want to support my community in providing quality primary health care services.”

Lenix started thinking about becoming a nurse when he was in Year 11, and now he is hoping to become a nurse practitioner.

Evelyne Emile, VCNE’s Principal Nurse Educator, said she is proud of her students’ achievements.

“However, we are living in a different time and these students were all very challenged by COVID-19,” said Ms Emile.

“I was very impressed by the way they handled and responded to challenges. I wish them all the best in their nursing career.”