In 1947, Edna Pearman Jones and Dr. Juanita Guishard Packwood set off for the UK, the first two recipients of four-year nursing scholarships.
The UK had offered a full scholarship each year to an aspiring nurse from Bermuda—but the Bermuda Government declined the offer.
Government approved funding for the two scholarships, but did not fund any more.
Edna Jones and Dr. Guishard Packwood qualified as State Registered Nurses and also studied midwifery. Back in Bermuda, Edna Jones worked for several doctors before joining the Health Department.
In 1947, as a first-year student nurse she represented Bermuda at a garden party for nurses at Buckingham Palace and was presented to Elizabeth, the Queen Consort. This honour counted for little when she applied to work at KEMH.
Dr. Guishard Packwood also worked at the Health Department. In 1958, she became the first Black Bermudian RN hired by KEMH. But the unwelcoming environment caused her to quit within weeks. She taught religious knowledge and health science at Berkeley Institute for five years.
She eventually returned to the UK to study psychiatric nursing and later obtained a PhD in Mental Health Counselling. She worked for many years at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute. Edna Jones eventually left nursing to become a stay-at-home mother.
