Beautifully donned in yellow with bright smiles on their faces, 15 school nurses were recipients of the HerFlow Unsung Shero Award on Sunday (March 27) during the Celebrate Her brunch held at the Jamaica Defence Force Officers’ Club. 

Celebrate Her was created to honour Jamaican women doing amazing work in their community. 

Shelly-Ann Weeks, founder and executive director of HerFlow, said Jamaican women have been working without recognition to serve their communities and this award aims to ensure that they feel appreciated for their efforts. 

“When Celebrate Her started, we posted on social media for nominees and the feedback made it clear that there are so many Jamaican women doing the work,” Weeks said.

“We chose to recognis school nurses this year because we know that these women have been working hard during the pandemic, reaching out to their students, even though schools were out. I have personally worked with some of them to create care packages for students during the pandemic.”

Lasco Curves has partnered with HerFlow since the inception of Celebrate Her in 2019.  Category Manager Renee Rose, in her remarks, said the brand was committed to celebrating Jamaican women and that it was important that this be done. 

In her address, she said to the honourees: “You are heroes, you are great, you braved COVID-19, you worked extensively to nurture and meet the varying demands of your students. We are grateful.”

Herflow is at the forefront of addressing Period Poverty in Jamaica and most of their work is done with school nurses and guidance counsellors. 

“Through the Period Poverty work we do, school nurses are at the front lines. They are the ones that have to assist students who don’t have access to menstrual products, sometimes going in their own personal supply to help,” Weeks stated.

“It is our absolute pleasure to recognise these women. I only wish we had the resources to do more.”

Patsy Edwards-Henry, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica, was in attendance and, in her address, she was thankful that school nurses were being honoured as she believed this group is sometimes overlooked.