TYGERBERG Hospital's nurse Wynnefred Otto has become more resolute and committed to saving lives.
She had to fight hard for her life in a hospital bed during the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
Otto is one of the millions of nurses across the globe who were being commemorated on Wednesday for their selfless work.
International Nurses Day is celebrated globally every May 12 - the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.
At the start of the pandemic the 53-year-old Otto from Belhar had to leave the hospital's Burns unit, her work area.
She was moved to the Tygerberg Hospital’s first Covid ward where she was running off her feet on a daily basis describing it as a “war”.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I had to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and apply the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practices as much as possible. Despite seeing patients dying every day, we had to come to work with a smile on our faces and a new state of mind. We always must push our feelings aside to nurse patients holistically and not get emotionally involved.”
Otto, who has 34 years’ experience, recalled the challenges of staff shortages, being terrified of contracting Covid-19 as she witnessed colleagues and many people being very ill, and others dying.
However, the oath she took and support from her family made her stronger.
“More supplies were required and a lot more staff started to get booked off, and often we worked as skeleton staff because many of our colleagues were ill. It was just heartbreaking to see colleagues die while others also lost a lot of family members, and overall, there were just more patients than usual.”
During the second wave her fear came to reality after shortness of breath and weakness of the body, the symptoms that were experienced by people she nursed started happening to her.
“I was hospitalised and couldn’t do much for myself because I was very weak. What carried me through were the video calls and prayers from my family, my friends, and colleagues. It kept me positive and gave me courage to keep fighting. Today I am very grateful for the mercy of our Heavenly Father, because it could have been so much different. This experience has also helped me to encourage our patience to never give up.”