- 2023 Awardees
- Born: 01/10/1968 Years Served: 1987 to Current Marital Status: Married Positions Held: Staff Nurse 07/09/1987 to 28/02/2010 Departmental Sister 01/03/2010 to 30/09/2012 Nursing Supervisor I 01/10/2012 to 30/06/2016 Nursing Administrator 01/07/2016 to Current Inductee 2023
ROSSANA HERSTIG
- Rossana Herstig initiated her nursing education at the Bliss School of Nursing 1987 to 1990, where she became a Registered Nurse. Immediately after, she was assigned to the old Belize City Hospital as a Staff Nurse, where she provided clinical nursing care. She pursued the professional midwifery course at the Bliss School of Nursing and graduated in 1995. Shortly after, was transferred to Corozal Community Hospital where she remained as a practicing midwife and Senior Charge Nurse until 2006, when she started performing as the Acting Departmental Sister (Nursing Supervisor). Rossana was appointed to that substantive post in 2010. In 2009, she obtained a scholarship to pursue a certificate course in nursing administration in Taiwan. In 2010 she successfully completed a four-year Post RN Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing program at the University of the West Indies, completed this course with honours. While in Corozal, doing supervisory roles and responsibilities, Rossana became the focal point for various projects such as the MesoAmerica Quality Improvement Project, Neural Tube Defects/Observable Congenital Malformations (NTD/OCM) Surveillance; became a Trained National Evaluator of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and continued to serve as a member of various committees, including National AIDS Commission. In 2014, she was transferred to the Northern Regional Hospital in Orange Walk and was promoted to the post of Nursing Administrator. Here, she continued in supervisory and administrative roles, while remaining as the focal point for the Mesoamerica Project up to 2022, as well as assuming the role of focal point for the training of trainers for the management of Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH). She joined the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) in 2017, and excelled on the research paper, which gained her a scholarship to represent the country internationally in Thailand. Later she was then transferred to the Western Regional Hospital (WRH) in 2018 as administrator, where she continued to serve colleagues and clients, until her return to NRH in 2022. Rossana is certain that she has left many indelible footprints in the sands of the health field that she hopes future nurses will be able to follow. Her main goal in her career: “To continue to fulfill the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ organizational goal of delivering quality health care through enhancing my knowledge, experiences and capabilities as a Professional Nurse.”