She was getting tired of physical work, so she decided to test herself to see if the brain was still functioning. In April she proved that it was and then some, as she achieved a typical nine-month certification in a record six months. At 72 years old.

A beaming Cynthia Burton (right) with granddaughter Kenisha who earned her Bachelors in Nursing a few weeks ago.

Cynthia Burton, a South Norwood, London retired health-care provider says that though there were nights when fatigue caused the book to fall from her hand, her achievement was no big deal. Easy actually, and she said she could have done the course in less time, if she hadn't had several breaks in her studying.

The achievement for her doesn't add to or subtract from her life's work. She proved a point to herself and is happy with that.
"What can I do with it (a certificate) at this point now?" she laughed. "It's an example to my kids and to others. I'm just happy that I'm still useful."

The London-based Orpington College has been boasting about Burton on the college's website, their pride, who "has just completed the NVQ(National Vocational Qualification) Level 2 in Health and Social Care at the tender age of 72."

"[She] completed the NVQ in just six months. This course... has allowed Cynthia to add academic achievement to the vast experience that she has gained over the years," the college said.

"The work I do keeps my body fairly active, I felt it was time to keep my mind active too," Burton said. "A lot of people didn't think that someone my age would be able to achieve something like this, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it, it wasn't as difficult as I first thought, and now I have a qualification under my belt. I think it's great that people of all ages can do courses that develop them in this way."

The certification comes through a nine-month self-study course that qualifies those working with the elderly in care settings.
Burton, who migrated to England in the 1960's from Jamaica, has been working at Burell Mead Nursing Home, a residential home with 21 clients in West Wickham, for the last six years.
That's just one of the jobs she took up after officially retiring as a caregiver.

The mother of "three beautiful girls and seven wonderful boys", who include the National Solid Waste Management's Errol Greene, also works with the Care Provider programme in her district, offering personal care and medication and arranging for hospital visits for older clients.

These she does everyday - she has 8:30 pm - 8:00am, 9:00 am-12:00 noon and 2:00 pm to 8:30 pm shifts some days -and three nights a week, offering all areas of care, making the elderly comfortable and helping them live a better quality life.
And it's the appreciation like that from her oldest client, a 99-year-old, that she says keeps her going.

"I love nursing, I love working with people," she said. "They're very much in love with me. They appreciate me, that's why I continue. Even today my oldest client who's 99 said how he appreciated me, they're very grateful."

To Burton, caregiving comes naturally, something she has been doing for as long as she can remember. When the children came, she used her skills and committed full-time to taking care of hers and other children in a nursery setting because she didn't want them to be taught the values of life by anyone else.
And who better to show her caregiving skills to than to her children, who she said she experimented on sometimes.

Son Errol Greene said that he's extremely proud of his mother's achievement and he admires her hard work and determination.
"Even now she doesn't want us to look after her, she wants to look after us," Greene said sharing an incident from her 70th birthday when the children decided to buy her a car with automatic transmission to replace the stick shift she drives.
He said she got upset, and that plan was aborted, as she prefers her stick shift.

"She's always looking after those who can't help themselves," he said, adding that she still helps out those from Jamaica who go to England with no place to stay, and has raised three or four more kids in addition to her own.

"She wanted the best for her kids and she got it," he said.
"They're all achievers," Burton said boasting about the daughter who is completing her Masters and the son with a Doctorate.

Count in the 17 grandchildren, who she said are also doing exceptionally well, and her husband Nemehiah, who plays a ministerial role in their Seventh Day Adventist Church and who she said is a ball of support who at 74, may have followed in his wife's direction, if he wasn't sick.

As for future plans, Burton is not thinking of more school for now, and instead will concentrate on helping her clients the best way she can.

And as for those who might be doubtful that they can do it all:
"Anything anyone does you can try and do better. Knock off the 'T' from can't and just do it," she said.

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