Stories From the Frontline
By COVID-19 Coordinator & Emergency Department Supervisor, Siana Nkya
Over the last several months at FAME, no day has been the same. In the early months as COVID-19 was busy spreading all across the world, we were busy preparing here at FAME. Initially we had tons of trainings. For the most part, I was training all of our staff along with our new Head Nurse Kizito and Head Doctor Gabriel, on how to properly don and doff Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Because of COVID-19, I’ve taken on a lot of additional responsibilities at FAME. While now I mainly train our staff on decontamination of PPE and medical equipment, a few months back I was doing a lot of trainings with Dr. Gabriel for other healthcare providers in our district. By the time we were finished, we had trained over 300 government healthcare workers. Eventually we were asked to join the District Level COVID-19 Task Force to provide technical support and to serve as a resource for providers in low-resource settings around the district.
It wasn’t long after hearing about the coronavirus, that we had our first suspected case at FAME. I was very scared the first time I had to put on PPE and actually go into our Isolation Unit to see a patient. But as patients continued to come I kept going in and eventually just got used to it. However, I have still not gotten used to the heat from wearing all the PPE.
Nowadays, things have sort of hit a rhythm. There is still a lot of work to be done, but each day in the morning I go to check on the Emergency Department and see if there’s anything that they need from me. Then I head over to the Isolation Unit, and either check-in with the nurse on duty there, or suit up and head in. I try to go in about every other day, because I try to do as much as I can for the patients mental health and well-being. While the nurses in the isolation unit make sure they are receiving medication and treatment, I remind the patients to exercise, take showers, eat their meals, and just spend time talking to them. I will ask them about their family or if they are feeling better today, just to take their minds off of isolation for a bit. Before going home at the end of every day, I make sure to check again at the emergency department and isolation unit to see if there’s anything they need before I go home.
Aside from PPE, caring for COVID-19 patients doesn’t seem that different from all the other patients I’ve cared for. The main thing is making sure not to use the same equipment on more than one patient, and if you do, you have to be sure to decontaminate it before using it again.
From what I have seen, I can say that all the staff at FAME have been doing really well. We are lucky that FAME management cares about us and about keeping us healthy. Whatever we need to be safe and to properly care for our patients, we get.