TCI: Alrisa Gardiner appointed as Primary Health Care Manager

#Providenciales, August 16, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – The Office of the Deputy Governor is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Alrisa Gardiner to the post of Primary Health Care Manager.

Ms. Gardiner is a graduate of the Raymond E. Gardiner High School in North Caicos and has successfully completed programmes in General Nursing, Midwifery and Public Health Nursing.  She began her professional career in 2001 at the Grand Turk Hospital and in 2002 was transferred to the Myrtle Rigby Health Complex in Providenciales where she worked in bedside nursing as a Registered Nurse and Midwife.

After completing the public health nursing programme in 2005, Ms. Gardiner joined the Primary Health Care Department where on occasion, she acted for the Senior Public Health Nurse.  In 2012, She completed a Masters of Public Health degree at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

Ms. Gardiner led a research project in 2012 with the title “Barriers to Parent-Teen Communication regarding sex in Providenciales”.  Her paper was accepted and presented at the 61^st CARPHA research conference held in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  In 2016, the study was published in the West Indian Medical Journal.  As Senior Public Health nurse, she was responsible for the Expanded Programme on Immunization, which focuses on vaccination of the population against vaccine preventable diseases, one of public health’s greatest successes.

Ms. Gardiner stated; “I am truly thankful for and humbled by this opportunity to serve as the Primary Health Care Manager.  I would like to thank the people who have encouraged and supported me throughout my career; my family and friends, the team of nurses in Primary Health Care and my colleagues in the health, locally and regionally.  This task ahead is a monumental one and I do look forward to effectively and efficiently executing my role to ensure that the primary health care department continues to provide quality services to the people of these Turks and Caicos Islands.  My goal is to achieve the ministry’s vision of “a healthy and empowered people throughout the life cycle in communities conducive to healthy living”.

Commenting on the appointment, Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service Her Excellency Anya Williams said; “It gives me great pleasure to formally congratulate Nurse Alrisa Gardiner on her promotion to the post of Primary Heath Care Manager. Alrisa is an ardent and devoted civil servant who is passionate about healthcare, the importance of early preventative care and the impact that improved primary health care can have on the people of these islands.  She has demonstrated over the past decade her strong commitment to the Primary Health Care Department and is a highly skilled professional.

We wish her well in her new role and know that she will do exceptionally well as the new Primary Heath Care Manager of the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Release: TCIG