It is my job to save lives

Kalken Mondiaal. Abal ontmoetingsplek.

Tijdens Covid-19 kom je ook mensen tegen die zichzelf overstijgen: zoals Sarah Bugingo, de Oegandese verpleegster in New York, die getuigt hoe ze haar angsten overwon. Dit is een verhaal uit het begin van de pandemie in de VS.

Me, to start testing COVID-19 patients! I exclaimed inside me. I developed cold feet and feared going inside the rooms. I had left my family home, my husband and my three- year-old daughter. Given my proximity to patients with COVID-19, I said to myself, "I cannot be the reason my husband and my daughter die."

As a nurse, is it normal to feel anxious and worried about coping with the pandemic. Health workers report for work in the most challenging of circumstances. There is the fear that we will become infected or we will infect our families, that our colleagues will become sick or the stories we hear from other countries will become our stories.

What does it mean for me to risk my own health — and my family's — for the greater good? This was a very haunting question for me. But I started encouraging myself, saying it is my job to save lives and also in my mind knowing that i took a Nightingale Florence pledge.

Despite the personal risks, I said I feel obligated to help, to comfort patients who were going through this alone.

Haar volledige getuigenis vind je hier:

Ugandan health worker in US shares her experience handling COVID-19 patients - New Vision Official