Honouring local nurses on International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is commemorated annually on May 12 to recognise the crucial role nurses play in the health sector.

Appreciating the role of nurses, the Advertiser spoke to two nurses from Tambo Memorial Hospital to find out what inspired them to become nurses.

One of the young nurses at the hospital, Phumza Ramalope, who is working as a paediatrician nurse in the neonatal ICU, said her passion to serve people led her to this career, even though she was undecided at first if she wanted to study law or nursing.

“After completing my matric at Vosloorus Comprehensive Secondary School in 2004, I enrolled for a short course in law, which was for a year. In 2006, I studied law via correspondence with Unisa, but dropped out because I felt I was too young to be doing a corresponding course. I was unfamiliar with their teaching method as I was still young, straight from school where I was used to having a teacher in front of me,” she said.

Ramalope said she then decided to study nursing at Ann Latsky Nursing College from 2012 until 2015 and qualified as a professional nurse.

While working at Tambo Memorial Hospital, she had an opportunity to further her nursing studies. In 2018 she completed her studies and bagged a post-basic diploma in child nursing sciences to specialise as a pediatrician.

The 34-year-old, who has been working at the hospital for six years, shared that nursing runs in the family because her mother was a care worker, her grandmother was an auxiliary worker and two of her relatives were professional nurses.

“Working as a nurse has brought me closer to God in many ways because some of the characteristics that are required from you when you are a nurse are that you need to be patient and not to be judgemental towards people but to look beyond their race or social standing,” she said.

Her advice to young people who would love to venture into the nursing career: “Choose it because it’s something that you love. Anything that is accompanied by love will beat all odds, but when you are forced into this career path it would be easier to let go when the journey gets tough because your heart wasn’t in it from the start.”

Another nurse who has been around for quite some time is Johanna Matambo, who holds 19 years of service.

She started working as an auxiliary worker in 2002 and then proceeded to train as a enrolled nurse.
The 56-year-old, who works in the paediatric ward, said to her nursing career is a calling because she has always been a caring person.

“Loving people and loving my job comes naturally because I’ve always been a people’s person. I go the extra mile for a person’s wellbeing. Where I live community members flock to my house just to ask for health advice. I assist where I can, but I also advise them to go to the hospital. This has proved that people are comfortable around me,” she said.

Matambo said humbleness, respect and her good communication skills set her apart from other nurses. She emphasised that patience and love are some of the required characteristics in this profession.

Meanwhile, Netcare is inviting the public to join them in acknowledging the immense contribution of nurses at Netcare and in South Africa as a whole by sending them your messages of appreciation using #NursesDay2021.

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