May 12 is the birthday of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, who is also credited for stressing hand washing as vital in the control of infections, and as the covid-19 jolts the world, the same as become the clarion call worldwide.
Nightingale also known as ‘The lady with the lamp’ led other 38 volunteers to treat the wounded during the Crimean war (1854-56). She promoted utmost care and Cleanliness in tendering injuries of the wounded soldiers.
However, in the recent past, there has been accusation of nurses in the country, having deviated from their founder’s mantra of kindness and care towards the sick.
But a Nakuru based nurse, Harun Kerama, said nurses have not changed, instead its society which changed and started perceiving nurses as cruel, simply because they emphasize the right things to those who feign ignorance.
“A number of people in hospitals are not physically sick, and yet when they are told to seek psychiatric care they accuse the nurses of being rude and cruel. We have malingerers who take bed spaces which are required by the critically sick patients, but when they are being discharged they protest,” he stated.
Defending his profession, Kerama said nurses have the sixth sense and they easily detect the sick who require their care vis- a-vis time wasters.
He added that the current coronavirus pandemic has proved them right, since many people were scared of going to hospitals.
The nurse urged wananchi to appreciate the critical role they render to society since they are the only ones who can bathe and feed an adult without him or her protesting.
By Veronica Bosibori
