HYDERABAD: The International Nurses Day like any other celebratory day highlights the work area of nurses employed in hospitals, old age homes and other health care centres. But during this tough times of Covid-19 pandemic when the confirmed positive cases in India are 70,756 while 2,293 patients have died, it’s because of the efforts of medical doctors and nurses working tirelessly for long exhaustive hours that 22,455 people have recovered and have been sent back home. There’s already a dearth of enough PPEs and complaints on sanitation conditions in the hospitals which makes their job even more difficult, but despite that these unsung guardians of life go on.
What does life look like fighting at the frontlines dealing with patients sick with Coronavirus? How do they manage time for their loved ones? Says Lt. Lalita Thambi, chief of nursing, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, “We get less time for family and sometimes are completely out of touch for long hours. Each day we go into work with the intent of giving patients the best care we can in order for them to recover.”
While this is highly commendable, how do they keep themselves motivated? She responds, “When patients are discharged, the smile behind the mask fills me with joy.” In the middle of grim environment it is quite hard for several of them to get motivation. But they go on.
No wonder then that there are many videos which have gone viral showing a little girl is blowing kisses to the nursing staff or the one in which the nurse is playing with a Covid-19 patient, who’s just a toddler. That’s how there have been more than 20 million tweets about nurses in the past two months. Shiny Cherian, nursing superintendent, Sunshine Hospitals, Secunderabad, says, “We are also scared of death, but continue doing our job. The patients get emotionally attached to us and we become family for them. It’s sharing the burden of pain and still going on.” Aneesh, who’s the ICU nurse head at the same hospital adds, “I don’t feel stressed as it’s my job to make sure that we are with the patients and give them complete treatment. We can’t run away from the situation.
What seems challenging is discarding the PPE that we wear which can be infected and can affect others.” Swarup Immaraju working as nursing superintendent and trainer at Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society, Kukatpally, has a little daughter, who misses him each time he spends more hours for the medical emergencies. He shares, “We are dealing with suspected cases and don’t treat them directly. But we have to be extra careful to make sure we don’t get infected.” At the same time he rues that neighbours don’t treat medical staff nicely who deal with Covid-19 cases as they fear infection.
Pallavi Korre, has been working at Osmania General Hospital working for the past 25 years. There have been ten cases over there. And it’s not just the medical support she along with other nurses provides, they offer psychological support as well. She shares, “We think about the patients’ health first, but do take our own precautions. Patients get emotional when they get healed or when they are tested negative. It’s satisfactory to see light on their faces.” Debra, DGM Nursing, KIMS sums up, “WHO declared 2020 as the year of nurse and this is what has happened. This year is a rare challenge. We are going on fighting this pandemic. Wearing hazmat suits all day is a tough task, but our team members don’t complain and continue saving lives. This is what our duty is.”
— Saima Afreen saima@newindianexpress @Sfreen