Recently, different educators from hospitals and care centers in the Dutch Caribbean came together to celebrate a significant achievement. Thanks to the collaboration with Amstel Academie, the Dutch Caribbean Hospital Alliance (DCHA), and the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare, and Sport (VWS), they managed to educate 1500 healthcare professionals in the Dutch Caribbean region. Moreover, the hospital educators developed various plans for the future to ensure sustainable collaboration.
Since 2021, educators from different hospitals and medical centers in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, and Saba have joined forces. Thanks to the collaboration with Amstel Academie, DCHA, and subsidies from the Ministry of VWS, advanced healthcare education has become possible. This funding was specifically reserved for education related to acute care, so the islands are better prepared during crisis moments, such as a pandemic.
Inventories and investigations were conducted, and many meetings were held with all partners to achieve this. The project, named Caribbean Health Academy (CARIBHA), managed to educate 1,500 healthcare professionals in ‘clinical reasoning’ as well as specialized nurses in emergency, ICU, CCU, diabetes care, anesthesia, etc.
Due to the successful collaboration among hospital educators in the CAS-BES, the decision was made to meet in person to evaluate the current cooperation, celebrate achievements, and discuss future collaborations. For this meeting, the Mariadal Foundation Bonaire (FM) made their hospital available, and Horacio Oduber Hospital Aruba (HOH) was in charge of organizing these intensive days.
Over two long days, Amstel Academie held evaluation and inspiration sessions, after which HOH conducted a strategy and vision session solely with the educators to work on future plans. Together, they assessed the educational needs for the coming years to acquire various courses, which also has the benefit of reducing costs and, of course, maintaining the connection between the islands. Additionally, the educators presented developments in teaching on their islands, which could serve as inspiration for others.
The event concluded with a celebration, where many involved gave speeches. The president of this alliance, Professor Lenie Denteneer of HOH Academy, opened the celebration, followed by the president of DCHA, Dr. Giovanni Frans of Mariadal Foundation, and VWS, who sent a video message expressing appreciation for this tremendous cooperation. Amstel Academie closed the event and reflected on the enormous progress they had achieved together over the years.
Finally, everyone present toasted to the tremendous cooperation and all that they have planned to achieve together in the future.
