They are not allowed to shrink at the sight of blood, neither can they run from a frantic mother in the throes of delivery. They work endless hours, are exposed to diseases of all types and are still expected to administer care without murmuring.

Nursing. It is a mission of mercy that many have abandoned for greener pastures, but some say they stay for the love of the profession, even though they run the risk of being dirt poor at retirement.

Thirty-nine year-old Dawn Marie Richards is the 2006-2007 Nurse of the Year and a level three nurse who is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in public health nursing. But her salary, she says, does not reflect this ‘status’.

The picture the “married single parent of two” painted for the Sunday Observer was a stark portrayal of what life was for those who minister to the country’s ailing population.

As a nursing supervisor, Richards gives general supervision to registered nurses, registered nurse midwives, enrolled assistant nurses, ward assistants, female attendants and male attendants at the Annotto Bay Hospital in St Mary where she works.

“My take-home salary is $36,000,” she shares. “After you take out life insurance, Blue Cross, my association dues and my credit union loan I just might be left with about $18,000.”

For her, penny-pinching did not go out with the turn of the century, as from that sum she has to cover rent, utility bills, food bills as well as the day-to-day expenses for her two daughters who are high school students.

“My rent is $8,000. I live in the country, and that’s a good thing because if I was living in a two-bedroom in Kingston I could not afford it,” says Richards. “I am a single parent with two children going to high school. Their lunch money and bus fare for the month is $12,000.

“I can’t go to the supermarket, I go to the wholesale and you just have to pick up the bare necessities. My light bill is like $4,000 per month and I haven’t even touched me yet. This is me working the money and I haven’t touched me yet. There is no entertainment and I haven’t even put my bus fare in there yet,” she adds.

How does she do it? the Sunday Observer asked.

“I don’t know how,” she responds, “but I believe in the Lord and that is what is keeping me. I tell you, I believe in the Lord.”

Richards is quick to debunk the impression some people have that nurses are well-paid.

“We don’t work any money, people think we work money, we don’t work any money and I am a ward supervisor,” she says.

Displaying her last pay stub, she says, “as a supervisor for a whole eight-hour shift, the allowance I get is $65 and on that shift I will be in charge of the maternity ward, the children’s ward, the female and male surgical wards and the male and female wards. I am in charge of the accident and emergency ward, I am in charge of the records department, the porters, the cashiers, everybody; for $65 for the whole eight hours, not per hour,” she outlines. “You might think I am joking, but this is the reality nurses are faced with.”

Even though her job is already difficult, Richards says she still has to find a way to supplement her income.

“For me to meet my expenses,” she explains, “I have to do sessions overtime. I had to do 24 four-hour sessions in one month in addition to my normal working hours to back up my salary. And when I do that all I get is $24,748 before tax.”

Out of a 20 work-day month, she says she at times doubles 12 days at 16 hours each.

“I did 16 hours for 12 of those days, tell me I’m not tired. But if I don’t do that I don’t carry home $43,000 and I can’t live on $43,000. That is the reality of nursing in Jamaica today,” Richards points out, adding, “think of the stress to your body…nursing is not a sit down job… you have to be on the move and the things you have to put up with.”

With all her expenses, including that for her own schooling, Richards says she is unable to save.

“.especially now that I’m studying, I have depleted that,” she tells the Sunday Observer. “I wouldn’t even go there. I survive by the help of God and friends.”

Richards admits that the nine back-breaking years she has spent in nursing have made her tired, so much so that it is affecting her time for recreation and worship.

“I get up and I want to go to church and believe me, I choose the bed over church because I think it’s disrespectful to sleep at church,” she says. “If you are not a church person and you are a party person you still can’t go to the party because you are tired and you can’t afford it.”

But though the job is difficult and the benefits are small, Richards freely admits she has a fondness for nursing. “I love my profession and I have no regrets. but I just believe that we should be paid better,” she says.

She points to the conditions under which she and her colleagues work as proof of their dedication to duty.

“At the Annotto Bay Hospital right now we are working with limited facilities, in that part of it is being refurbished and this is just being done since [Hurricane] Ivan two years ago,” she says. “Because of that, we have mixed wards – male and female. Privacy is at a low. Simple things that you need to work with, you don’t have, so it’s not as if we are working under these great conditions with a minimal amount of pay.”

The hospital, she reveals, is at times dependent upon the benevolence of citizens.

“We are doing so much with nothing, simple things are not available. I can speak for Annotto Bay Hospital, we are surviving off gifts, when overseas people come and they give us things, like syringes and medication cups and painkillers,” Richards points out.

“It’s really hard on us, and our president is working with the Ministry of Health to get the policies in place; but on our side it’s not only about the finances, it’s important yes, but something needs to be done to help us to cope in terms of the conditions,” Richards says.

Despite the high level of stress associated with the job, nurses, says Richards, have to carry out their duties with a steady hand as the welfare of patients comes before theirs.

“You cannot afford to make a medication error, you cannot afford to give poor nursing care because people will sue you for the slightest thing, this is why I am saying to the minister of health, ‘don’t think we are being hard, because we are highly overstressed’,” she says.

“We have a lot of people who are qualified. We are always trying to be on par with what is happening worldwide, and the Nurses Association of Jamaica is a member of the International Council of Nurses, so we are aware of what is happening worldwide and we try to keep up,” says Richards.

This however, has not prevented ward sisters, qualified at the masters degree level, from getting the same $36,000 take-home pay.

Richards could not explain why she had opted to stay for the long haul instead of going abroad like many of her colleagues.

“I can’t tell you why I am still here, because I don’t even have a passport,” she says. Mr Dalley (the minister of health) speaks of patriotism and maybe I have too much of that, but I don’t know if out of my batch of 55 [nurses] 10 or 15 are left in Jamaica… some people have actually left the profession.”

Richards admits, though, that helping people is one of the best rewards of the job.

“It’s worth it in terms of the clients who will say ‘nurse, thank you’ and these things make a difference,” she says. “These are the things that count and make you continue with the job. These little things make you feel nice. To me, this is the rewarding part of the job and this is why I stay.

“As a midwife, I will see children on the road and the mother will say ‘nurse, you know ah your baby this’ and it gives you that sense of fulfillment, to know that you have made an impact on somebody’s life.”

Referring to the current wage dispute between nurses and the government, Richards says she fully supports the actions of her colleagues who yesterday called off a two-day sick out in protest against the government’s offer of 22 per cent increase over two years for levels three and up, and 24 per cent over two years for levels one and two nurses.

The nurses are asking for 80 per cent in the first year and a further 40 per cent in the second year.

“We are not asking for somebody else’s salary, we are asking for a salary that can afford us to live fairly comfortably in these times,” she says. “The level one nurse earns $7,500 per week, $29,000 per month after tax. I don’t believe our request is all that unreasonable”.

She argues that the prices of chicken, flour, sugar, and even cement have been increased since the nurses made their wage claim. “.the toll road was opened, all these things have happened…what are you leaving the poor, suffering humanity to do? and we have to care for others”, she says.

She also believes public sector nurses have been maligned over the years, while other professionals have received preferential treatment.

“We are not comparing ourselves to others,” says Richards, “but if you look at the Delacree housing scheme down by Spanish Town Road, most of the people that live there are correctional officers and police officers.

And you will never go into a scheme and find something like that for nurses; nobody thinks of us and yet still we are expected to live at a certain level.”

She asked the public affected by the industrial action, to bear with the nurses and understand their plight.

“I would hope that the public would sympathise with us and understand that we are doing this not for ourselves only but for them also; because this is not only about salary. We are also asking for other terms and conditions, we asked for equipment to work with and we asked for improvement in the infrastructure and facilities,” she explains.

Richards also called on her colleagues to “maintain their humanitarianism” despite the problems and issued an appeal to the government. “We don’t want helper allowance, we will wash our clothes. We just want the money to buy the soap, and pay the water rate. That’s all we want. We are asking for fair pay for the work that we are doing.”

dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com