Audrey Hinchcliffe was boarded out as a child and described the experience as "hell". She was mistreated. But she had a dream instilled in her young subconscious by her father who told her, "You must make something of yourself." In 1958, she entered nursing school at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) and for most of the time was sick with nephritis. She almost did not graduate, but she did, for she had a dream. She spent an additional six months to catch up with her studies and to recover from a tonsillectomy.

Ruptured appendix

She graduated in 1961 and started work in Mandeville August 1962. While doing nursing, she ended up on the hospital bed with a ruptured appendix - a life-threatening condition. There were complications - she could not wake up from the anaesthesia - they fought to save her life.

Then married, she became very ill with both her pregnancies and almost died of kidney disease and haemorrhaging in childbirth. To top it all, her marriage dissolved. The father of her children then died suddenly and, virtually penniless and left with two children to support, she migrated to the United States where she worked three jobs simultaneously, furthered her education, and sent her children to school.

She studied hard, ended up on the dean's list and graduated. She told me, "Tony, at my graduation, I heard only two little hands clapping in the audience - my two children saying, "Go, Mom!" As she studied, her dream began to grow. "Why be a nurse?" she asked herself. "Why not run the hospital? After all, this is where the big money is."

Held on to her dream

Hinchcliffe

No sooner she received this bigger dream, she was hit again with sickness, and septicaemia after surgery almost took her life. Six weeks on the hospital bed. But she held on to her new dream. She was appointed director of nursing and also became a college professor. She moved to the University Hospital of Jackson-ville, Florida, and turned it around administratively.

In 1980, she fell ill again - another six weeks in hospital. Friends had to assist her financially and looked after her children. She subsequently lost the position in Jacksonville and in 1982 was recruited by the Caribbean Community Secretariat in Guyana as health development officer for the region. She took ill with a heart condition and ended up in the ICU at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Barbados. On a trip to India, she lost most of her hair with a botched hairdo in which the chemicals used were so powerful none would regrow. She has sported the bald look ever since.

Returned home

In May 1987, she came home. "I always wanted to come back to Jamaica," she said. She came home, but no one would hire her. Rejection after rejection. She sought counselling for she thought now of going back to America. She was given this advice by the counsellor: "There are several Jamaicas and you must choose which Jamaica you want to live in." She owed over five months' rent for her little office, three months' arrears on her mortgage, her phone was cut off. Yet she had a dream. She was determined to succeed.

She started Caribbean Health Consultants Limited and got little or no work as competition came out of the woodwork. Broke and disappointed, she started to close her office in preparation to remigrate when a letter came from Maxine Henry-Wilson offering her a consultancy at the Social Development Commission (SDC). She sat down and wept. This was the break she needed!

From the SDC, Caribbean Health Consultants Limited had a rebirth. She started to tender for hospital services and in 1990 won the tender for the Tony Thwaites Wing at the UHWI. In 1993, she won a tender to provide janitorial services for the Spanish Town Hospital. She started out with 18 workers at the Tony Thwaites Wing.

And as they say, the rest is history. Today, Audrey Hinchcliffe lives her dream in Manpower and Mainte-nance Services Limited, employing up to 2,000 workers. Her accolades and awards are numerous and earned her the name 'Phenomenal Woman'.

I asked her what advice she would give now that she is eminently successful. She said, "Don't let discouragement get you down. Go in for the long haul, know when to seek help. Measure success in small units. Never give up. What you think is failure tonight could be success tomorrow morning."

If Audrey Hinchcliffe can live her dream, so can you!