The quiet front line battle of South Africa’s rural nurses

The focus may have been on urban nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic, but those in rural areas suffer similar fates. However, very little is known about how they have been able to cope with colleagues falling sick, their lack of PPE and simply how they’ve coped with the fear and anxiety of being on the front line.Ruth Seikaneng did not have time to mourn her nursing colleague Dudu who died from Covid-19 in one quick, painful week in July.

where testing kits were found, working longer hours when a colleague has to quarantine, or using outdoor areas to isolate patients. If the patients’ conditions worsen, they need to be transported again, this time to Klerksdorp Hospital some 250 km away. “My family is nervous about me working here, but they are also proud,” said Shikwambana, standing outside the building where patients are being monitored.

Candles were lit to honour the nurses putting their lives on the line fighting the virus, including Dudu — the only nurse to die from the virus in the local municipality. Prayers and songs swept through the room as nurses rose to their feet, raised their hands and bowed their heads in prayer.“Each and every day, you put on your uniform and take care of your patients,” said Mdolo, wearing her starched white nursing dress and a red scarf draped around her neck.

“We are here to save our community,” said Kgomotso Moremedi, a 43-year-old healthcare worker who is one of 26 members of an outreach team going door-to-door conducting contact tracing to monitor and mitigate the virus spread. When Covid-19 hit, Pudumong’s healthcare workers quickly became Covid-19 tracers under the supervision of the clinic’s nurses.With no thermometer, they have used a verbal assessment form to ask quarantining residents how they feel, who they last saw and whether their symptoms are better or worse.

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