Dr. Jessie M. Colin, professor and director of the PhD, nursing executive leadership, and nursing education programs within the Division of Nursing at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Barry University, was inducted into the Hall of Fame and presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award on April 11, 2015.
The Haitian American Nurses Association (HANA) honored Dr. Colin for her tireless work in the South Florida community.
“I don’t do the work for the recognition, I do it because the work needs to be done,” said Dr. Colin of the award. “I have had a lot of support over the years and I want to give back.”
Dr. Colin earned their Nurse of the Year Award for her work in the Haitian community in 1993. She served as past president of HANA from 1997-99. Last year she received a Leadership Award from HANA of Florida.
“I was very surprised to know that I was chosen,” said Dr. Colin. “But it humbled me to be recognized for the work that I do and that I enjoy doing.”
The not-for-profit organization was established 31 years ago and holds six chapters throughout the country. HANA’s mission is to provide nurses the opportunity to network as a group, support one another, and become advocates for the less fortunate. This diverse group of nurses strive to provide health services relevant to the health and welfare of minority communities in Florida by providing preventive screenings, youth focused interventions, emergency response teams, medical missions, and immunization drives.
Dr. Colin is a Fellow with NCSBN Regulatory Excellence (FRE) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She received a BSN and MSN at Hunter College in New York in 1974 and 1980 respectively; and a PhD in nursing in 2000 from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.
In 2009, Dr. Colin was recognized as one of the most influential and prominent black women in South Florida. An inspiring role model, her national and international leadership exemplifies nursing’s commitment to society; she is a nationally recognized spokesperson on Haitian immigrant health and nursing in Haiti. She co-founded the only baccalaureate nursing program in Haiti and serves as vice-chair of the Faculty of Nursing Science School of Nursing.
She served on the Florida Board of Nursing for ten years, where she influenced policy and promoted nursing excellence. She served as chair of the Board for three years, and chair of the board’s Education Committee. As the first Haitian nurse appointee to the Florida Governor’s Haiti Advisory Committee, she recommended initiatives for disaster preparedness and public health in Haiti.
Dr. Colin received several grants to conduct research in Haiti and in the US to explore the effects of paternalism on Haitian women’s health. Through her research, she seeks to better understand the plight of Haitian women and their lack of interest in their own health. Through qualitative research, she conceptualized and is testing her “Haitian Cultural Model of Care,” which addresses negative effects of paternalism and its influence on societal, contextual, and economic norms.