SNA president lambasts “degrading comments” made by LBJ’s CEO

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The president of Samoa’s Nurses Association, Solialofi Papalii has hit back at the CEO of LBJ Hospital, Moefaauo Bill Emmsley, over “degrading comments” on the curriculum of the nursing school at the National University of Samoa.

She also called for Moefaauo to apologize for his “unnecessary” comments of what Papalii considers “degrading remarks regarding the standard of the nursing qualifications in Samoa.”

TV1 Samoa reported that Papalii was responding to comments by Moefaauo that the LBJ hospital has opted to hire nurses from Fiji and the Philippines rather than Samoa due to the curriculum of not being up to par to U.S. standards.

She told TV1 in no uncertain terms that the American Samoa CEO needs to apologize for his ‘senseless remarks’ regarding the standard of Samoan nurses qualifications.

Papalii retaliated by pointing out that the standard of the nursing training program and Bachelor of Nursing Program in Samoa meets the British curriculum standards, and is jointly developed by the NUS academic staff in collaboration with the World Health Organization and in line with the International Council of Nurses professional standards.

During a press conference at the ceremony to welcome nurses from Fiji last week, Moefaauo said that a review of the curriculum used at the NUS nursing program is not up to par with US licensing standards for nurses and this would be a challenge to acquire US certification for nurses from Samoa.

According to the CEO, LBJ will need to work with NUS on the nursing program in order for the hospital to hire from Samoa.

 “What we need is to put together a team to send to Samoa to help build a curriculum to an acceptable level that we can hire from Samoa.”

According to the CEO, they have done that same exercise with the Fijian nurses whereby the curriculum was actually sent down here to American Samoa along with transcripts and officials documents.

“And it’s come back to me that the Fijian curriculum is quite equivalent to the US and we have accepted that and we have moved on to the next phase

The Nurses President said that Moefaauo’s remarks not only ridiculed the work of Samoa’s nurses, but also that of the country’s educational and health sector, together with the country’s esteemed international partners.

Papalii proudly pointed out that Samoa’s nurses hold a variety of qualifications including Bachelors degrees, Masters and even Doctorates in nursing and related fields.

Papalii also emphasized that a number of Samoa’s trained and qualified nurses were working around the globe at various healthcare facilities and institutions.

Papalii also highlighted that nursing students come to Samoa to study the nursing programs made available in the country, so that they can qualify for nursing work in their own countries.

The Nurses Association president, is therefore insisting that the LBJ Hospital’s CEO should apologize for the damage his words have done to the reputation of not only Samoa’s nurses but also other nurses that have studied in Samoa, and the academics and development partners that have been impacted by his offhanded remarks.