Skin Clinic nursing staff determined to give of their best
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 xray 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.