Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Nurse Gangapattie Dani
“Although not a cure for COVID-19, the vaccine can prevent you from encountering serious symptoms and will protect your family as well.”
By Sharmain Grainger
Frontline healthcare provider, Nurse Gangapattie Dani.
Kaieteur News – Among the many frontline healthcare workers who have been affected by COVID-19 but who are still back in the heat of the virus killing battle is one of our own emergency nurses, Gangapattie Dani.
When COVID-19 entered our shores back in March 2020, there was little information to work with, but today Nurse Dani is operating from an information space, especially as she has seen the infectious virus up close and lived to fight another day. Having dealt with the virus at such a close proximity, Nurse Dani admitted that the fear that once held her, no longer does so but is being relived, now more than ever, to defeat the enemy.
Protect yourself, Nurse Dani knows, is the best offensive tactic right now and this, in her opinion, includes, “washing and sanitizing, wearing protective gears, taking my vitamins and much of fluid, social isolation, proper ventilation and showering before leaving work. Environment. “
Being a healthcare professional comes with its own risks and these are understandably magnified when put on the front line, especially in the Rapid Emergency Room (ER). As an ER Nurse at the country’s leading health organization, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, our frontline healthcare professional is tasked with caring for the sick, the injured and the disabled. He recently shared, “I always have to be on my toes thinking and watching out for the worse cases that come through the Accident and Emergency doors.”
In fact, Nurse Dani has acted as a team leader in critical cases and is currently not just a nurse but a mentor, trainer (Emergency Residency Program), friend and, among other great things. He has recently been appointed Ward Manager (Ag).
Accompanied by some of her colleagues.
Always ready to take on a challenge.
It’s worth noting that she has twice received awards for her clinical leadership at the ER.But how does a person choose a career and evolve so effortlessly that it is clear that they were born for so much in life? To Nurse Dani, it was ‘no brainer.’ She explained, “I knew I wanted to be a nurse after my first exposure to work study, working at Suddie Hospital.”
Born February 19, 1985 to Suresh Bridjalall, a carpenter, and his wife, Nina, a homemaker, as the eldest of three children, Nurse Dani grew up in Affiance, a village on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
He attended Taymouth Manor Primary and then Cottonfield High School. Although she loved drama classes since she had to fulfill her passion for dance, Nurse Dani knew, even then, that she was on the lookout for something much bigger.
Convincing that nursing was her forté, she, shortly after completing her secondary education, headed for Georgetown School of Nursing and then University of Guyana to broaden her academic horizon.
Nurse Dani currently lives in Recht-Door-Zee, West Bank Demerara, Region Three (Essequibo-West Demerara Islands) with her own family. Her husband, Munesh Dani, and their children – daughter, Maryian and son, Michael – are very supportive of her career as they understand all too well her mission, as an ER Nurse, to help save lives .
With her loving family.
This task has become even more important with the advent of COVID-19. In this regard, Nurse Dani said, “My role is to provide effective and efficient nursing care for all patients … also, working with my team, and doctors, managing critical cases, providing staff and patient education and ensuring coloring and safe doping of PPEs in the department. ”
With 16 years of nursing under her belt, Nurse Dani believes she has stayed grounded and committed to the cause because of “my nursing skills, years of experience and a caring heart for others.”
In fact, she revealed that being a nurse during such an infectious pandemic has taught her many lessons that have helped her evolve further professionally. “One of the biggest lessons is safety precautions,” said Nurse Dani, as she also stressed the importance of “coping mechanisms” that are also needed in the fight against COVID-19.
Nurse Dani was quarantined – after being exposed to zero patients in March last year, and in October last year, she also tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be isolated. The worst part of her loneliness, she recalled, was being away from her children.
She knows all too well how it feels when one is given a positive COVID-19 test and subsequently has to be restricted, until cleared to resume normal life.
Based on the country’s COVID-19 data, of the nearly 11,000 people who have tested positive, just over 250 have died. This is a particularly worrying situation as healthcare workers, such as Nurse Dani, are convinced that if COVID-19 guidelines are adhered to, more lives could be saved.
Although a COVID-19 immunization campaign has been introduced with targeted first group health workers, Nurse Dani has not yet received a single injection. This, he said, is due to the fact that people who would have tested positive become eligible for vaccination only after six months have passed. As she waits patiently, the nurse encourages members of the public to take up the vaccine, once they are eligible, because “although it is not a cure for COVID-19, the vaccine can prevent you from encountering serious symptoms and this also protects your family. ”
But life hasn’t been all work and no play for this dynamic ER nurse; in fact, she has a deficit for gardening and pottery, and admitted, amidst laughter, that she also found time for a “good TV series.” Spending quality time with family and friends is also important to her, and despite the pandemic, she can still consider this in her busy schedule “to a degree.”