PHILIPSBURG--Nurse Brunilda Illidge walked out of St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) for the last time on Thursday, December 12, after 32 years of service.
Illidge first started her career in nursing in Aruba in 1976 on earning her Registered Nurse (RN) diploma. She was drawn to a career in nursing as it provided her with the opportunity to do what she loved most, which was to help persons who were ill.
She relocated to St. Maarten in 1987 and began her tenure at the former St. Rose Hospital, which was then located in Philipsburg.
Illidge relocated to SMMC in the current location in Cay Hill on the day of its opening, March 17, 1991. An “all-around nurse”, she worked in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Maternity Ward, Surgical Ward, Dialysis Department and Operating Room during her first years at SMMC.
She followed a Practical Nursing Instructors Course in 1993 to enable her to professionally train nurses in the field. Her first class graduated as registered nurses that same year. She began the SMMC Education Department in 1996 with fellow educator Antonio Pantophlet.
The SMMC Education Department’s has seen 5 groups of registered nurses and six groups of licensed practical nurses graduate in its 23 years. The most recent graduating class was in November this year with a total of 31 registered nurses.
Illidge was also one of the founders and board members of Windward Islands Health Care Union Association in 2005 and remains president of its board today.
She is proud of the legacy she is leaving behind at SMMC. “My greatest satisfaction is that the majority of the young nurses in the hospital are my former students,” she said. “I was able to do my part in contributing to country St. Maarten.”
Illidge also has a daughter, a granddaughter and two nieces who work as nurses at the hospital.
She emphasised that retirement does not mean she is done, as she wishes to continue her passion through community workshops in the future.
She concluded by saying that she has reached self-actualisation and is more than content with what she has achieved throughout her career as a nurse and as an educator.
