BENGALURU: Lakshmidevamma is 26 years old and the mother of a three-year-old toddler. A nurse with the BBMP, she has vaccinated more than 2,000 people since March at the public health centre in Sultanpalya, RT Nagar, Bengaluru. Her friendly smile and assurance have set many people, who had vaccine hesitancy at ease.
Lakshmi comes all the way from Doddaballapur to the PHC to ensure that she is on time and that people are not kept waiting. She leaves home at 7.30 am and returns around 6.30 pm every day. The young nurse, who was appointed in March last year, had Covid-19 testing as her maiden task at the PHC. She had tested positive in October last year and her child had also developed symptoms. But soon after her quarantine was over, Lakshmi was back at the PHC, leaving her toddler in her mother’s care. When asked about her coping abilities, she smiled and said she had decided to become a nurse with service above self in mind.
In our daily battle against the pandemic, it is the nurses, who have put their lives at risk to help heal and revive the sick. Around 80 per cent of nurses are women. On International Nurses Day, TNIE spoke to some nurses in PHCs, government and private hospitals, on what it takes to be a nurse in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. They spend 6 to 8 hours of their day wearing PPE , face shields and gloves to attend to patients in the Covid wards and don’t have the luxury to drink water because that would mean a visit to the washroom, which they can’t afford.
“With the pandemic, many people have been asked to stay safe and work from home. It is a privilege and unimaginable for us. We have to be on front line duty and we do it with a smile,” said Sister Latha Nonis, Chief Nursing Officer, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road. “Last year, there was eagerness to learn about the pandemic. This year, we have the experience but the number of young people falling sick does have an impact on us,” said Latha.
K B Ashwini, staff nurse at Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road, said that nurses are under pressure from their families to quit their jobs. “But we convince them that we are safe and we love doing what we have committed ourselves to doing. Last year, half of the staff at the 10th PD (10th floor in Manipal Hospital is dedicated to Covid-19 patients) had tested positive. We were worried, but we were well taken care of by the hospital and we bounced back,” said Ashwini.
Sister Sowmya D M of Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital spends her days in the Covid-19 wards of the government hospital attending to the breathless and sick. “I assure them that they will get better with timely treatment,” she said. “The oath that we take before joining the profession is our gospel and keeps pushing us to serve others,” said Vidya Raju Salian, Principal, School of Nursing, Bowring & Lady
Curzon Hospital and Charakha super-specialty hospital.