GEORGE NEWS - Her name describes her attitude towards patients and is one of the qualities that earned a Thembalethu staff nurse, Patience Shipalane, the title of South Africa's most caring nurse in 2018.
Shipalane (41) received the annual Marilyn Lahana Caring Award last week at a function hosted by the Democratic Nursing Association of South Africa (Denosa) in Pretoria. She works for the sub-district office of Western Cape Health and is based at Harry Comay Centre, but is mostly out in the field, doing health promotion by visiting crèches, knocking on doors for house calls and taking no nonsense from parents who are lax about the immunisation of their children.
Her motto is, "One life at a time, and if it's two at a time, it's a bonus".
"I really love my work," she says emphatically.
She has a soft spot for children. "When you look after the interests of a child, you are looking after a future generation and perhaps someone who one day will invent a new medicine."
Melanie Marthinus, primary health care manager for the George sub-district, says Patience is well-known in Thembalethu and is often invited to do health talks. "She truly avails herself to do upliftment in her community."
Shipalane began as a nursing assistant in 2005 at the Thembalethu clinic. In 2011 she completed her staff nurse training and in 2014 she was asked to join the ranks at the sub-district office. In addition to home visits, she services more than 56 crèches in Thembalethu and 136 in the George district where, twice a month, she administers vitamins, deworming treatments and immunisation. With the award also came R10 000 cash and a laptop computer. "I still have to decide how I'm going to spoil myself with the money," she says.
According to Denosa, Shipalane was the winning candidate because of her unique interaction with the public. She enjoys talking to people in public places like taxi ranks, malls and churches about health-related topics. This makes them more open to asking questions than they would in a formal clinic setting. In this way she has also become aware of cases of parental neglect, child abuse, severe poverty, and people without legal documents such as birth certificates.
Shipalane says when she comes across people who are rude, she remains respectful, as the patient always comes first. "When someone is rude, it can be that they have some kind of trouble and you have to have a good ear for them."
The annual Marilyn Lahana Award is named after a Johannesburg nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a patient who was transferred from Gabon. She passed away in November 1995.
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