A public health nurse, a registered nurse and two nursing assistants are the members of the army of nurses who have been battling for patients at the Public Health Skin Clinic/National Leprosy Control Clinic over the years and for them it is a war that is worth fighting.
Public health nurse Wendy Bowman, who has been the clinic for over 20 years and is considered the ‘mother’ of the nurses, registered nurse Mandia Alli and nursing assistants Cheryl Barry, a retiree, and Sherlock Castello all entered the nursing profession at various times, but are united in working to help their patients, sometimes becoming their friends.
On International Nurses Day, celebrated on May 12, those four nurses were recognised as being an integral part of the Public Health Skin Clinic/National Leprosy Control Centre headed by Dr Heather Morris-Wilson and which also includes four other doctors and a medical technologist. Dr Morris-Wilson and her staff shine a light on the almost forgotten disease leprosy and also give holistic treatment to the patients who walk through the door.
The centre is located in the compound of the Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, but about 13 clinics are held monthly around the country in an effort to identify new cases of leprosy.
Realising their dreams
For Bowman becoming a nurse was always her childhood dream and she has realised it.
After leaving school, she did a stint of national service before joining the profession with her first being at the women’s orthopaedic ward.
“It was hard work there because I remember we had a sister she was very, very strict. She didn’t like to see us sitting down, you know we always had to be attending to the patients’ needs,” Bowman recalled. “I admired her for that because that left me with the desire to continue nursing. I love doing what I do and that is why up to this stage I am still a nurse. I love to care for people, assist them and what is more gratifying is when they are on the road to recovery I feel a sense of accomplishment.”
Barry, on the other hand, had wanted to be a teacher but she recalled visiting her mother who was employed as an orderly at the then Best Hospital, now known as the West Demerara Regional Hospital. It might have been then that she became interested in nursing. She shared as well that she had many relatives who were nurses and as she grew up, she decided that nursing would be her career.
On completing secondary school, Barry gained employment as a clerk at the High Court, but nursing was still at the back of her mind. Eventually she started her training and she recalled that the sisters were strict.
“It is not like today. It was very different. You had to adhere to rules. You had to do what you were told, and I loved bedside nursing,” she said, even though today she is a different area.
Her career has seen her journeying to many parts of the country and even to Brazil. “I moved around and now that I am here I am moving even more. I went to different regions,” she said.
She proudly shared that her granddaughter has followed in her footsteps while her eldest daughter manages the x-ray department at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Alli has only been a registered nurse since 2019.
“I always had a passion for caring. If I see an elderly person on the road or like you are in a line and the elderly person needs to get in and you standing there those things would cause you to give care to that person. So for me my passion to becoming a nurse was just caring for others, putting myself in their position thinking that one day I would be at that age, at that stage in life,” she said.
Caring and giving to others makes nursing a great passion for her and being able to see smiles on patients’ faces when they recover is all the reward she needs.
She joined the team at the Skin Clinic in February 2020 as she wanted a stable environment since she had a young child at the time. She has learnt a lot in the past two years about skin diseases.
Castello has been a nurse for the past nine years. He has been at the clinic since 2016 and he said it has been one of the most eye-opening experiences in terms of interacting with patients and seeing that people can have really bad days and “it is our duty to help them out as much as we can.
“Nursing wasn’t really a first choice of mine but eventually I came into the profession. I basically always tell myself if I should do anything I would do it with all that I can, because nursing is more than a job; it is being compassionate towards patients and helping them as much as you could,” he said.
The job is demanding, but also rewarding for Castello who said it was more than him just doing a job, but “seeing that people feel better and knowing at the end of the day they are happy.”
Transferred
Bowman was transferred to the clinic from GPH and as a public health nurse she works in the communities to promote health care and educate patients and their families about their condition. She also assists the doctors in the regular skin clinics and does home visits, especially when patients miss their clinic dates as some can have genuine reasons for missing their appointments.
“As a public health nurse it is also a multifaceted role because at times you are a mother, you are an educator, a teacher, a counsellor you are a manager..,” she said, but added that despite the challenges she “adores doing it”.
It was after she retired that Barry returned to the system also in a public health role and she recalled that at that point she knew nothing about skin diseases and leprosy However, over the past six years she has learnt a lot.
“When I came here I was surprised to see that leprosy existed and then we start moving around. We do contact visits. We would educate them because some of them don’t want to come and take their medication and you have to be behind them. You have to tell them what the purpose of the medicine is and still you get a lapse period with them… you always have to be behind them,” she noted.
Barry said that she learns something new every day because patients present with different symptoms and the experience has been challenging but rewarding.
Explaining the importance of that area of nursing, Castello pointed out that people’s confidence and self-esteem are often affected when they have a skin disease.
He noted that we live in a superficial society, so everyone wants to look good when they step out in the public.
“Working with persons who have skin conditions requires a lot of talking… because a lot of times skin conditions can be quite prolonged and when the persons are not seeing the results they want immediately that is worrying to them… You have to be constantly telling them that everything will be okay,” Castello said.
Barry shared that at times the patients don’t want their families to know they have leprosy and they would beg the Skin Clinic team not to visit them at home. If they do, they want them to park the vehicle some distance away and walk to the house.
COVID-19
In 2020 when COVID-19 became a reality, nurses were among the professionals who continued to go to work; at the clinic they worked a shift system.
“We were provided with the necessary stuff to work with and work went on as usual,” Bowman said. While she was encouraged to be careful by her family they were very supportive.
Barry said she was somewhat scared because she used public transportation and instead of three in a seat, many times it was four and the drivers would point out that everyone wanted to get home. Eventually, she started paying for the front seat of the bus in an effort to keep herself safe. Her family was also supportive and most of them continued to go to work as well and they did everything to ensure they remained safe.
For Alli it was very concerning time. Her child has an underlining condition and she had to balance work and ensuring that he kept up with his online schooling.
“It was very scary and constantly I had to remind my husband not to interact with him until he showered, until he changed…” she said.
Alli has a sibling who was very afraid of the virus and since Alli worked as a nurse she never interacted with her closely during that period but would visit and stand at the gate and speak with her.
“If she collected a package from me she would sterilise the entire package. [She] did not allow her kids to touch it… She would always call and say why you all going to work and if you have to work and stuff like that. My parents were okay…,” she said.
Earlier this year, Alli and her son both contracted the virus, but they both recovered quickly.
Castello said he was not scared since nursing is already a risky job and they have been trained how to protect themselves in crises.
Prior to COVID-19 they saw some 200 patients on the general clinic day but since the pandemic they see patients every day. However, the number is not as large as they had to limit how many people they see on a given day. They have been visiting the clinics on a monthly basis.
Noble profession
Bowman referred to nursing as a noble profession, indicating that it is not done for the love of money but rather for the “love of doing it.
“You have to be caring, you have to show empathy, you have to be compassionate that’s it. The service that we give does not match or equate to the salary that we receive but above all that, despite all of that we give our hearts for the patients. The patient is our priority and we cannot harden our hearts because of everything that is going on right now … If you do it halfheartedly you wouldn’t accomplish your goals and desires in the nursing profession.”
Barry summed it as, “nurses do so much and receive so little” and she added sometimes patients are unthankful but on the other hand some are very thankful and even visit the nurses after they are discharged; this keeps them going.
“I think the nursing profession can evolve to be something greater… I would agree with Nurse Wendy that you do it out of the kindness and goodness of your heart. You go above and beyond for your patients and in spite of all that is happening around us with politics and everything else we may grumble and say the salary is not good but if we stay home because we are dissatisfied who is left at a loss? Not the ministers, not the doctors but the patients; so we still go out and do what we have to do,” Alli stated.
Castello was blunt enough to say that nurses are not treated fairly. He pointed out that they are often put in harm’s way and are expected to be resilient no matter what. And at the end of the day, they are told it is not enough and that in itself is discouraging.
“It is one of the reasons why a lot of nurses don’t want to stay here [in Guyana] because we are not appreciated for what we are doing and everybody wants to be told, ‘okay you are doing a great job’ and we are going to reward you for that. So, I think more should be done for nurses because we do more than we should do and we will keep on doing that for years to come because that is what nursing is all about, caring constantly,” he said.
