Nursing staff who go the EXTRA MILE.

After battling with a large inflamed area on my right buttock, i was admitted into the Cedar Ward on Wednesday afternoon, 9 Oct 2019.

At that stage, I had come with my own bandages from home and a sanitary towel to prevent any unfortunate "oozing" onto the hospital linen / bedding and my underwear.

The admission into the ward took extremely long simply because I was faced with the "war of the veins", which is no fault of anyone. A lovely trauma nurse eventually came to my rescue and the drip was set up.

I requested the day staff to check whether there was any seepage from the wound and fortunately nothing was evident.

Then the night staff arrived. I want to specifically refer to these ladies as GEMS in their profession; namely Sister Petersen and Nurse Arlet Mukuta.

They came to check on me as part of the hand over procedure and wanted to see my wound. They then bought a linen plastic sheet to put under my buttocks.

The following morning, Thursday, 10th Oct 2019, after my shower, I requested assistance from the two GEMS and they came without hesitation.

During the day, I approached a day nurse at around 14h00 to assess whether I had soiled my underwear / was there any leakage? She looked and confirmed that there was nothing.

I just know something was not right so I ended up going to the bathroom to find my underwear soiled.

I changed my underwear and again at around 17h30, I approached another nurse for assistance. I wanted the nurse to apply some gauze to the wound and to secure it with microspore.

To my complete surprise, i was politely advised that I had a plastic sheet on the bed and if I wanted to, i could just wash the wound off with the red liquid soap in the bathroom as the doctor was going to drain the inflamed area the following morning. Sadly, that is not what i wanted. I needed the wound to be covered.

Then at 19h00 the GEMS arrived. So empathetic, caring and understanding. Wow, they are a blessing to have at Vincent Pillotti Hospital. Nurse Arlet Mukuta and Sister Petersen are special people. Thumbs up to them. Their aim is to simply make your experience a memorable one. I took a quick wash and pressed the bell and Arlet came to apply the gauze and microspore, without any hassle. The soiled plastic sheet was replaced, without me requesting them to do so. WOW - exactly the attention any patient deserves.

Please allow me to commend them for a job well done. They are not just in this job for the salary, they feel your every need and they simply try to assist where ever possible. Please commend these gems at your next staff meeting. They are really special people.