(Trinidad Express) The nursing fraternity lost two of its members to the Covid-19 virus on Tuesday.
They were Enrolled Nursing Assistant (ENA) Vanessa Sampson-Solomon and Registered Mental Nurse (RMN) Josephine Sealey.
Head of the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) Idi Stuart who confirmed their passing yesterday, said Sampson-Solomon was last attached to the Diego Martin Health Centre.
Tributes poured in for the beloved nurse on Facebook yesterday, with many describing her as a “gem”.
“She was one of the most pleasant, kindest, compassionate nurses I have ever come into contact with and was able to calm and reassure patients, making them feel like they mattered,” one woman posted.
“She was a boss at what she did and was always so pleasant. She will be surely missed,” another said.
Stuart said Sealey was attached to the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital.
“She was on one of the wards that has had an outbreak of Covid-19. She worked at Ward 11, so she would have picked up the virus there and was placed in quarantine. Sadly, her significant other reported to staff that she passed away in her sleep,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 update yesterday, there are currently 93 positive Covid-19 patients at St Ann’s Hospital.
Covid burnout
Stuart also highlighted the sudden death of another RMN attached to St Ann’s Hospital, Raymond James.
He said James’ death was “indirectly” related to Covid-19.
Stuart said James was one of the many nurses who had not been able to take vacation or casual leave “for the longest while” because of the pandemic.
“Only recently when the numbers were low, about a couple months ago, the Regional Health Authorities began to allow nurses to go on vacation leave, but then they quickly called them back out to work. The gentle giant, as he is known, came back out to lend his hand to the effort because of the shortage of nursing personnel,” he explained.
“In being called back out to work, he began complaining that he was really tired and needed the break. He was feeling his body telling him something was wrong. I don’t want to say what he died from but it is something that the Association is seeing internationally, that even if you don’t die from Covid-19, the stresses of this continuous labouring and long hours, being gowned up for extensive periods, you’re sweating in these hazmat suits, takes a toll,” Stuart lamented.
