A selfless journey of love
TAINA Adi Kubulala’s passion for nursing goes beyond the normal call of duty. Retiring from the local nursing fraternity and working overseas for years has not stopped this Nadali, Nausori, Tailevu, lady from doing what she does best, to the extent that even though she is here for a holiday, she still carries the tools of her trade around with her.
The third youngest of eleven siblings, Ms Kubulala was born and grew up in Lautoka. She attended Lautoka Fijian School (now Delana Primary School) and Jasper Williams High School where she excelled at athletics.
From an early age, she knew she had a caring nature and set her mind on nursing as her chosen profession.
“I’m grateful to my mum who stayed by my side, preparing me for my calling until she left me a few years later when I was just embarking on my nursing journey, on July 15, 1985,” she recalls.
“I spent eight months as a nursing intern at Lautoka Hospital and a further one and a half years as a staff nurse.”
Ms Kubulala was then posted to Nacula Island nursing station in the Yasawa Group, travelling back and forth to attend training on the mainland.
In 1989, she attended a midwifery course on the mainland before returning to the island to continue her role, before finally saying goodbye after seven years serving there.
She resumed duties at the Lautoka Health office as the Natabua and Tavakubu zone nurse. While at that office, she set foot on every island in the Yasawa and Mamanuca group of islands, helping facilitate projects for local and international medical students.
“I was posted to Korovou SubDivisional Hospital from 1992 to 1996 as a senior midwife, and it was one place that contributed to enhancing my skills and knowledge of midwifery. In 1996, I went back to Lautoka Hospital’s Special Outpatients Unit before moving to the Labour Ward as a sister.”
In 1998, Ms Kubulala was identified by the hospital matron who saw her potential as an ideal candidate for a World Health Organisation-sponsored nurse practitioner (NP) course. While attending the course as one of its pioneer students, she realised there was a gap in the nursing curriculum.
After completing the course, Ms Kubulala was posted to Valagi Health Centre at Udu on Vanua Levu.
Six months later, the Health Ministry tried to post her to Ono in the Lau Group, but the chief of Udu asked the ministry to send somebody else to Ono.
Ms Kubulala was asked to return to Fiji Nursing School as a coordinator of the NP training program. “So I returned to the classroom to share the knowledge and experiences gathered in my work on the field.”
Upon completion of the program, she was posted to Namarai
Health Centre where she found herself working alone, doing both the doctor’s and nurse’s jobs for six months before the ministry sent a nurse to the health centre.
“I was then asked by a senior matron, who was writing a paper, if I could be part of a focus group as a nurse practitioner,” Ms Kubulala says.
“It was during discussions within the group that I realised there was something missing in the nursing curriculum and that was to start with basic physical assessment before moving to advanced.
“So, I was told to write a paper on it, which I did. I didn’t know where that paper ended up, but I did note that the nursing curriculum changed soon after.”
From Namarai Health Centre, Ms Kubulala also moved the other health centres in the Ra sub-dvision, which included Nasau, Vunitogoloa and Ra Maternity Hospital. She also stood in for doctors whenever there was a shortage at Rakiraki Hospital.
In 2006, she was asked to take up a post on Vatulele Island as the NP at the health centre.
While at Vatulele, she travelled to Taiwan to attend a professional health care training program, observing how Taiwanese health professionals conducted health procedures. Ms Kubulala returned and remained on Vatulele until 2010.
“I approached the Ministry of Health to request if I could move to Suva to be closer to my daughter, who was attending school,” she recalls with tears in her eyes.
“I had been moving from district to district, island to island and I was missing out on being part of my daughter’s life and education, and I will always be thankful to the ministry for granting my request.”
She was posted to Valelevu Health Centre in Nasinu where she worked until she reached the 55-year retirement threshold and applied for re-employment as an NP.
“It was such a disappointment, and I was quite sad too because I was the only one who wasn’t reemployed as a NP,” she says.
“They told me I could be re-employed but as a midwife.’’
In 2019, Ms Kubulala retired from the Health Ministry.
She travelled to the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) in 2020 to start afresh and quickly settled in her new role as the NP co-ordinator for the RMI health ministry, in the introduction of the NP program to their nurses, in collaboration with the Fiji National University. She arrived on February 20, and they closed their national borders on March 16 as the COVID 19 pandemic raged around the world.
“My superiors told me, ‘Taina, that’s your baby’, so I had to facilitate both the NP courses and to man the quarantine facilities as a supervisor, leading a team of six police officers, nurses, and paramedics.
“I was privileged to work with the US military in keeping the Marshall Island safe for so long because it was one of the last countries in the world to be infected by COVID 19.”
Ms Kubulala is in the country on a holiday and returns to the Marshall Islands next month.