Dear Editor,

The Nurses Association of Jamaica is deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident and offers condolence to the family of young Jalisa McGowan; hoping, like her mother, that something like this will never happen again.

The public health system should be such that the populace should have confidence that they will be attended to when seeking care.

We are further saddened by the fact that the media, specifically the Clovis Toon published in the Jamaica Observer on March 5, 2021 would trivialise via illustration the report made by the victim’s mother. It is totally unacceptable, disrespectful, and degrading the manner in which the nurse is depicted, even as we struggle to stay afloat during this challenging time.

We listened to the interview over and over and at no point in the conversation was a negative comment made of a nurse, or that there was interaction with a registered nurse. The closest she came to a nurse is someone whom she referred to as a “nurse aide”, who offered a suggestion which was not accepted.

While we find it infra dig to respond to this egregious depiction, the Nurses Association of Jamaica categorically condemns the action and demands that the cartoon be retracted. We also ask for an apology to the nurses of Jamaica who, at this point in time, with the hike in the number of COVID-19-positive cases, is desperately having to grapple with the risk of being on the front line trying to keep the populace healthy and safe, even while many of them are COVID-19-positive, their families are at risk, and we also are mourning the death of a number of our colleagues.

Why was the nurse the only health care worker singled out? We don’t know, but we know that the illustration seems to be a direct attack on nurses with the intent to skew the public’s view of nursing in a negative light. We do hope that this matter can be remedied at the soonest time possible.

Nurses Association of Jamaica