At age 26, Novlet E. Davis emigrated from Jamaica to the U.S. where she pursued her training as a nurse. Yet, Jamaica is still close to her heart. Ms. Davis holds a BSN and MS Adult Nurse Practitioner.
Her countrywoman Mary Seacole inspires her.
“Mary Seacole was a Jamaican-born nurse who used knowledge passed down from her mother, an herbal healer, to assist many patients suffering from cholera epidemics,” she says.
“She wanted to help the sick both in Jamaica and abroad travelling to Panama, Haiti, Cuba and Bahamas where she expanded her knowledge on herbal medicine and became a well-known practitioner.”
Why did Ms. Davis choose nursing? “I wanted a career that was respected and I wanted a profession that had diversity and flexibility. Nursing allows me to be selfless and make others my priority.”
Davis has worked in the areas of medical surgery, critical care, and as a cardio thoracic nurse primarily at St. Francis Hospital during her 20-year-plus nursing career.
She has also organized two successful medical missions to Jamaica — in 2013 and 2014 — serving more than 1900 patients.
“My love for the human race and the emotions I feel from giving back to the underserved population is more rewarding then any financial reward,” she says.
One of her favorite quotes from Maya Angelo also sums it: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Ms. Davis received the St. Francis Heart Center 2013 Mid-Level Practitioner Humanitarian Award and is pursuing a Doctorate of Nursing Practice at Stony Brook.
