Healing students humanely with heart

 For many who work in healthcare, the profession is more of a calling for those who have devoted their lives to the health of people.

Over the last year, healthcare workers have been celebrated across the country for their frontline fight against Covid-19. Anna Moloi is among these. Affectionately known as ‘Sister Maggie’ among staff and students, Moloi has been recognised as a Wits Covid-19 Hero for her contribution to the fight against Covid-19 on campus.

Sister Maggie is nominated as a Wits Covid-19 Hero for going beyond the call of duty and here is why.

She was the go-to person on campus for staff and students who presented with Covid-19 symptoms, tested positive and needed more information about the highly infectious respiratory disease.

Knowledge and expertise on viruses and diseases was expected from Sister Maggie, given her profession. However, with Covid-19, she too had to learn more rapidly, as the novel coronavirus was a new phenomenon globally.

With information sourced from Wits infectious respiratory disease researchers, the World Health Organisation, and other sources, Sister Maggie rose to the Covid-19 challenge that her role as a nurse demanded. Delivering quality healthcare services to the Wits community was now more important than ever.

Servicing staff and students, especially in 2020, was not easy said the passionate nurse. “When times were tough with the pandemic, I was always reminded of my oath.”

Living up to the nurses’ pledge she made more than three decades ago, Sister Maggie again put the health of others before herself. The pledge and the Hippocratic Oath guide the conduct of healthcare workers, to ensure they promote the health and well-being of patients under their care, and uphold the ethics of the profession.

Sister Maggie joined Wits in 1995 as a primary healthcare nurse. Prior to joining Wits, she worked as a community healthcare nurse and this experience enabled her to extend great care and support students at the start of the pandemic.

Despite being scared – because Campus Health and Wellness Centre (CHWC) did not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at the time –Sister Maggie felt a strong sense of responsibility to visit the students coming in from China, to keep them calm. “I had to visit them, reassure them, and give them my cell number so they can let me know if they need any assistance or are experiencing any symptoms. They were so grateful to realise that Wits cares,” she explained.

Sister Maggie commends the commitment of her team at CHWC who worked tirelessly and continued offering healthcare services to staff and students at the height of the pandemic. She concluded Covid-19 gave her an opportunity to learn more and expand her health knowledge.