Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sister shares her emotional Covid-19 journey, recovery
A NURSE who worked at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) for 35 years was discharged from her own ward after surviving Covid-19. Sister Anita Richards spent 20 years of her career working in ward C13, but never expected to become a patient and be cared for by her own colleagues.
On June 3, she was diagnosed with Covid-19 and admitted to the hospital. Ward C13 is now a high-care ward with 15 beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients. For 10 days, Richards was treated with high-flow oxygen on one of the hospital’s new machines procured for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1 248 nurses in the Western Cape have been infected with Covid19, and nine have died.
Sister Richards is originally from Springbok in the Northern Cape. Without any immediate family in Cape Town to support her through her illness, she leaned on her nursing family at GSH who regularly visited her and encouraged her during recovery.
“It was an emotional journey, but my colleagues here made things easier,” Richards said.
One colleague who cared for her during her hospitalisation was enrolled nurse Willem Spogter. He has been a nurse for 36 years and spent the last six working directly with Richards in the ward at GSH.
He said it was a very emotional experience to be the person administering care to her, as she was his mentor and had helped orientate him when he was new to the ward team.
“Sister Richards is like a mentor to me. When I came into C13, she was the one who showed me how things worked in the ward,” Spogter said. “Now, to be the one to give her injections and care for her has not been easy.”
Another staff member caring for Richards was community service nurse Tasneem Taliep. “Sister Richards is a true mentor to me, and it was a roller-coaster caring for her,” Taliep said.
On Thursday, Richards was finally well enough to leave hospital and return home for the rest of her recovery.
She shared a warning with the public about how seriously we should take the illness: “People should realise that Covid-19 can make you really sick and it is important to wear your mask and keep your social distancing, as these could save your life.”