Dedication to job cost nurse her life

A PASSION TO HELP

CARE home nurse Elsie Sazuze ‘lost her life doing the job she loved’, a friend said yesterday.

The -year-old self-isolated after showing symptoms of coronavirus but had to be taken to hospital and put on a ventilator as her condition deteriorated.

The married mother of two, pictured, died earlier this month at the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.

Her husband Kenneth, 5, said she had understood the risks of continuing her job after the coronavirus outbreak began but had wanted to carry on working.

Mrs Sazuze, who was originally from Malawi, trained and worked at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton before starting work at a care home in Cannock, Staffordshire.

Mr Sazuze, who is training to be a nurse, said he was not allowed to see his wife of 2 years after she was admitted to hospital.

But she called him just before she was put on the ventilator. ‘She started telling me, “Ken, if I don’t come back, be strong, I love you, be strong for the kids”,’ he told the BBC.

‘I was like, “no, no, no, don’t tell me that. I don’t want you to start telling me that in a negative way... we will be all right.”

‘She said, “I’m just telling you in case”.’

She understood the risks of working on the front line but was happy to help people, he added.

Family friend William Fungatira said: ‘Elsie was a naturally quiet person but very caring, friendly, cheerful and resilient.

‘She had a passion to always help others. She was dedicated to helping people. It’s a great loss to all of us who knew her and, indeed, to the wider community because she lost her life doing the job she loved.’