A woman dedicated to community service who was among several candidates that showed “exceptional qualities” has been named Nurse of the Year.

Brittany Darko received the recognition at the Bermuda Nurses Association annual dinner, which was held at Fourways Restaurant & Inn on Saturday.

She was nominated alongside Bernadette Wilson, Bronya Hillier and Olievia Martins.

Ms Darko is a community health nursing co-ordinator at the Department of Health and has been in the nursing profession since 2014.

She told The Royal Gazette she was “shocked” when it was announced that she had won the award.

Ms Darko said: “I feel honoured to be a part of a nurse of the year group.

“I feel humbled and as I looked at all the names on the trophies from 1986 onwards, I just feel grateful since the association chose me and recognised all of my hard work and dedication to the nursing profession as a Nurse of the Year.

“I am grateful and I don’t take it lightly, and I will continue to make the community proud and serve.

“Nursing is about service, it is a calling, it is not just a profession.”

She added: “In nursing you have to have people skills. It is not good enough to only be skilful, you have to be able to see beyond illness and see the humane side of people.”

Ms Darko said a nurse should be compassionate and "see the human nature in people”.

Her career started with studying nursing at London’s Southbank University.

Ms Darko then obtained a bachelor’s degree in health and social care and applied psychology from the University of Brighton.

She took up a housekeeping role at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and three months later rose to being a healthcare assistant in a cardiac intensive care unit.

In 2016, she returned to Bermuda. Ms Darko said initially she wanted to be a cardiologist, however, in the last year of nursing studies she became a mother.

“I said, let me just continue with nursing, because I am going to have a small family.”

Ms Darko said she has always been proud to be an integral team player and leader.

She explained: “As a leader, I always believe that you should not just be the one to tell people what to do, that you have to lead by example.”

Ms Darko added: “I am a team player and I want people to be successful.

“I want others to shine, and so it is easy for me to allow others to shine, to talk, to lead as well, because I want everybody to be successful and I am trying to do whatever I can to enable them to be successful.”

She said: “When people want to come to work, it makes everything easy. It does not become stressful and you are not just pointing the fingers to do this and do that. People are self-motivated.”

Renée Faulcon, chairwoman of the nominating committee, said each nominee was put forward by a fellow nurse or by someone in the community.

She explained: “A candidate must be a member of the BNA that meets the criteria to become the Nurse of the Year.

“The criteria includes: act as a role model, demonstrate innovation and creativity, commitment to keeping abreast of changes and advancements in nursing practice, and being involved in the community. ”

Ms Faulcon said: “The scores were very close and each candidate demonstrated exceptional qualities characteristic of a professional nurse.

“Ms Darko was chosen because of her dedication to community service, teamwork and innovative leadership style.”

At Saturday’s event, two groups of nurses were awarded team prizes for their contributions to the medical profession.

In this category, the Pals nursing team as well as Ms Darko and her team of nurses from the Community Health Nursing unit of the Department of Health were declared winners.

Karen Grant-Simmons, president of the Bermuda Nurses Association, described the weekend’s event as an “auspicious” one, where nurses and their efforts are recognised.

She said: “As this year's nursing theme states ‘Our Nurses Our Future — the economic power of care’, it reinforces the fact that nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system.”

Ms Grant-Simmons noted that “policymakers, healthcare administrators and the public must see the need to value, respect, protect and invest in nurses for a sustainable future for nursing and the healthcare system”.