During my formative years in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Colonel Celia Bramble recalls her inspiration to become a nurse, “I watched my aunt, a community midwife, deliver hundreds of babies. She provided these services to poor, disenfranchised women at no cost, with passion, dedication and selflessness.”
In SVG, the opportunities for growth and advancement in the profession were limited, so Celia Bramble decided to immigrate to the United States.
With nursing educations from C.W. Post, LIU, and Columbia University, Ms. Bramble has clocked more than 40 years in a profession she has totally embraced.
Now retired from HHC – Kings County Hospital Center where she began her career in 1967, her last position was Associate Executive Director, Training and Organizational Development, responsible for overseeing training of all disciplines and levels of staff to ensure regulatory compliance. While there, she established an MPH and other on-site degree programs.
Additionally, she rose to the rank of colonel in the United States Army Reserve — she is now retired — and was devoted to duty, clinical skills and leadership. She served for 25 years as chief of nursing education, executive officer, and commander in various metropolitan area reserve units.
Ms. Bramble is recently retired as president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Nurses Association of New York, Inc., serves on the executive board of the Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organizations (COSAGO) and is an active member of the Caribbean American Renal Failure Foundation and Caribbean American Nursing Organization.
“I continue to influence lives through health teaching and counseling at church, in the community, or wherever possible,” she says. “Nursing is an emotionally, spiritually fulfilling career; it is truly the heart and soul of health care.”
