NADINE Anderson-Lawrence, a maternity nurse employed to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, was Saturday night crowned the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica/Lasco 2007 Nurse of the Year.

She was given her tiara and sash amidst resounding applause from her many colleagues in the nursing profession during the NAJ’s annual awards ceremony at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

Anderson-Lawrence, who beat three other nurses to claim the title, walked away with a number of prizes, including a US$2,500 scholarship from the Ministry of Health to pursue further graduate studies.

She also received a cheque for $130,000 from the Lasco Group of Companies, main sponsors of this year’s Nurses’ Week of activities, which concluded with Saturday’s ceremony.

In addition, she received a ticket from Air Jamaica to any Caribbean destination; shares valued at between $2,000 and $5,000 in the NAJ Co-operative Credit Union; several gift baskets and a cellular phone from mobile provider Digicel.

“I am elated to be the nurse of the year,” Anderson-Lawrence told the Observer after the event, which also saw the award of nursing student of the year going to Georgia Johnson of the Cornwall School of Nursing.

She said that she would be making it a point of her duty to increase people’s awareness of nursing and its value to Jamaica during the course of reign as queen.

“I am going to sell nursing, starting from the high schools. And also, I going to sell the NAJ to all nurses,” she said.

Anderson-Lawrence, one of the first registered nurses at the Victoria Jubilee, the island’s largest maternity hospital, holds a Master of Science degree in Nursing Administration.

Said Anderson-Lawrence: “It really shows what nurses do and not just as a nurse. You have to be involved in your community and be aware of current affairs, internationally and locally.”

Meanwhile, NAJ president, Edith Allwood-Anderson, said the Nurse of the Year competition, which has been ongoing since 1975, was an incentive and a public relations platform to bring people up to speed on issues affecting nurses and happenings in the profession. “For the nursing students, there is public speaking and for the nurses, a 20-point questionnaire on current affairs. And they excel (even as it) boosts them personally,” said the NAJ president.