Jaqueline (Jacqui) Gilbert, President of NYSNA's Congress of Bargaining Unit Leaders, member of NYSNA’s HHC bargaining team, and RN at Harlem Hospital, will be honored at the 2014 Caribbean American Health Awards on June 25 for her extraordinary contributions as a nurse and union activist.

The award ceremony is hosted by Caribbean Life, the largest Caribbean American newspaper in New York City, with nearly half a million weekly readers.
 
Jacqui came to New York from Trinidad and Tobago 22 years ago. She chose to work at a New York City public hospital because that is where she felt could best serve her community and provide needed services to fellow Caribbean immigrants.
 
Jacqui’s colleagues nominated her for the Caribbean Nurse Award because of her outstanding leadership and commitment to her patients. She has been a role model to young nurses, helping them learn the skills they need to provide the very best care and showing them how to organize and advocate for their patients at the bedside, at the statehouse, and in the streets.
 
Jacqui tells her fellow nurses to always do the very best for their patients, no matter who they are: “You have to treat every patient as if they were the most important person in the entire world and our job is to nurse them back to health.”
 
Former NYSNA Board Member Lorna Samuels and several other NYSNA RNs are being honored, including Janet Marva Bowen, RN (Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center); Joan Rosalee Davis, RN (Montefiore Medical Center); Jennifer Henry, RN (Queens Hospital Center); Dorian P. Samuels, RN; Avril P. Silcott, RN (Wyckoff Hospital). Congratulations to all of the honorees!