Department of Health recognizes staff achievements

The Department of Health is today delighted to recognize the achievements of two of their staff - Ms Denise Samuels who recently obtaining her Dental Assistant National Board Certification (DANB) and Ms Laura Lynn Jackson who recently received her MSc in Public Health.

Ms Samuels presently works at the Oral Health Section of the Department of Health where she has had ten years of dental assistant training and experience.

“Throughout her time with the Department she has shown distinction as a natural organizer and problem solver,” said Senior Dental Officer Dr. Celia Nzabalinda. “We congratulate Ms Samuels on her achievement in obtaining her DANB…it is truly well-deserved.”

Ms Samuels attended and completed the dental assisting course provided at the Bermuda College and thus was able to sit her examinations in Bermuda.

In order to qualify for certification Ms Samuels first had to achieve her radiology and infection control certification. The chair-side assisting certification requires that the applicant has at least 3700 hours of clinical experience prior to sitting the exam.

Ms Samuels began working at the Health Department March 1992 as a temporary clerk until November 1993 when the post was made permanent. 

“After working for few years as a clerk I felt I was not being challenged enough and so I expressed my desire to become a dental assistant,” she explained. “In October 1997 I became a Dental Assistant Trainee under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Winwick.  During the years of my training, which dealt specifically with school-aged children, I learned many new skills and a wealth of new information. All of these experiences heightened my desire to become a certified assistant.

“My most rewarding moments are my daily experiences in the clinical setting when petrified patients give me a sigh of relief, a hug, or a smile after the procedure and confidently say that their dental experience was ‘not bad’.”

Registered Nurse Laura Lynn Jackson recently returned from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, England, where she obtained her MSc in Public Health – a feat which took one year on a full-time basis on-site.

She was the award recipient of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission 2012.

Ms Jackson is the Coordinator of Child Health at the Department of Health and currently supervises 14 positions – 12 community health nurses and two record clerks.

She is responsibility for planning, implementing, coordinating and monitoring services for four programmes including Immunization, Child Health, School Health (including asthma education) and Travel Health for Bermuda. 

Ms Jackson attended North Oxfordshire Technical College before commencing nurse training in England.  She returned home to Bermuda in 1992 after qualifying as a nurse. She spent two years in KEMH, before joining the Department of Health, first as a Community Health Nurse, and then as a Health Visitor in 2001 and finally Child Health Coordinator in 2002. 

She has also worked on temporary assignment with Pan American Health Organization/Caribbean Epidemiology Centre, participating in country-wide immunization programme evaluations in the region. 

In 2010 she was chosen as Nurse of the Year for her work in the Department of Health and, in particular, her role in piloting the “Flu Express” initiative.  She is a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife, trained Public Health Nurse, and holds a Certificate in Supervisory Management and a Bachelor in Practitioner Leadership. 

“Going forward I plan to strengthen my leadership role within the public health sector and share my knowledge with all staff in the department,” she said. “I am committed to health improvement for the Bermuda population through preventive health services - especially for young people and vulnerable populations.”