In Elizabeth’s Words

Elizabeth is one of the nurses who works for Joyful Motherhood. I asked her to tell us about her work and this is what she said…..

I enjoy my job because of the care we provide. After enrolling babies we follow up with them in their homes. One interesting thing I have noticed is that when we enroll clients at the office, they act as though they understand everything we tell them; maybe they feel uncomfortable or intimidated because it is within the hospital. But, when we go to them in their homes, they feel free. They ask questions. They ask for clarification about what they did not understand. And, over the period that we continue to visit, we see the children growing well. We are happy and the families are happy.

With regard to the mothers, we feel also happy because we know we are doing a lot for them. The picture above is a mother we enrolled last week. The mother had a c-section but was very sick afterwards and was hospitalized for two months. Her milk dried, her husband abandoned her, and she had no one rely on. The other women and families in the hospital were actually contributing money so that she could buy formula for her baby. One of the our nurses found her at the hospital and enrolled her in our program; she was greatly relieved. She was finally discharged last week and taken by ambulance all the way to her village, one hour away. Her neighbor called us when she arrived to let us know that she had been discharged and told us that the child had no formula. We went immediately and were saddened to see that the baby was just crying. They didn’t have anything to feed the baby so they were just mixing sugar and water for feeds. I brought formula, prepared it and fed the baby. I checked on the mother’s wound, which is healing well. They were so happy with the care received.

I love my job. When you work in a clinic as a nurse, you just give the prescribed medicine, you do not follow the patients. You do not know if they understood your instructions, or if they have what they need to care for their family member, you may never see them again. But, here we see our patients in their homes monthly and we know that what we are doing is indeed benefiting many.

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