By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

SHOCKED was how Una Bain described being named the March winner of the Public Hospitals Authority’s Unsung Heroes Award.

Taken aback by being both nominated by colleagues and ultimately being selected, Ms Bain, a nursing officer at the Princess Margaret Hospital’s highly specialised Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, said while she was overjoyed and honoured by the award, she viewed her selection as a chance to extend her efforts at work even further.

The veteran nurse, who is the national co-ordinator for the neonatal resuscitation programme and deputy to the unit manager, said the impact the PHA Unsung Heroes Award - launched this year in partnership with The Tribune Media Group - has had on morale throughout the public healthcare system is immense, adding that the chance of recognition of the hard work and dedication that goes into health care has made everyone in the profession go the extra mile. A record 75 nominations were received for the March award, including a number from the Family Islands.

Ms Bain said she has to now challenge herself to meet higher expectations placed on her because the profession deserves the best.

“I am going to continue to do whatever I am doing right now. I am going to continue to excel to the highest level. I am going to continue to take care of my patients and their parents and I enjoy doing it,” she said.

Those who nominated Ms Bain praised her for being an “outstanding leader, honest, dynamic and dedicated” and for her “professionalism, empathy and desires the best for others”.

Kevin Darville, The Tribune Media Group’s special projects co-ordinator, presented Ms Bain with a cash prize of $1,000, a voucher for dinner for two at the Dune restaurant at the One&Only Ocean Club, a pin to commemorate her selection as the third monthly winner and a certificate to mark the achievement.

The PHA Unsung Heroes Award is a monthly recognition, given to employees in the PHA who have made extended and noteworthy contributions to the health services industry in the Bahamas. An annual winner, selected from the monthly champions, will be announced and honoured at a gala dinner early in 2018. The initiative recognises and rewards excellence, care and compassion in the Bahamas health care system as part of a ground breaking public-private partnership between the PHA and The Tribune Media Group.

The award will identify and publicly honour those PHA employees who have gone “beyond the call of duty” in providing levels of care and compassion throughout the islands, in the authority’s two hospitals (Princess Margaret and Rand Memorial), Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and its 108 clinics and agencies.

PHA Managing Director, Herbert Brown, on hand for the award presentation, again acknowledged the renewed energy and effort the award has inspired since its introduction. As he commended Ms Bain in particular, he said that no level of success is obtained by someone simply doing the “bare minimum”.

He praised her leadership and wisdom, her versatility and her application of professional skills and experience to the tiny, vulnerable patients. “She is a people’s person, offering calm and unflagging support to the families of her patients even in moments of crisis,” Mr Brown said.

To that end, he thanked employees throughout the public healthcare industry for going above and beyond the call of duty to benefit and accommodate people seeking help in the medical field.

Ms Bain joins Patricia Laing, also a veteran nurse, and Veronica Ferguson, a wheelchair valet, as recipients of the monthly award. The Unsung Heroes Awards are open to employees of the PHA, with nominations now being accepted for April.