Berenice Dolly

Berenice Ivyoll Dolly, born Grant (1917 to 2002), was a Trinidadian nurse who helped build modern health care in Trinidad and Tobago. Born in Pointe-a-Pierre, she completed her nursing training in 1936 and later worked with the Ministry of Health in San Fernando and with charitable groups, including the Chest and Heart Association, which she founded in 1940. She pressed for legislation to register and regulate nursing, and the Nurses Registration Ordinance passed in 1950 because of her perseverance. She also pressed for a College of Nursing, was a founding member of the Trinidad and Tobago Nurses Association, serving for many years as its executive director, and led the drive for the Nursing Council of Trinidad and Tobago. She was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1962 and received the Gold Public Service Medal of Merit of the Order of the Trinity in 1976. She is widely recognized as a nursing pioneer in the Caribbean.