Unwaveringly devoted to Public Health… Nurse Deslyn Fraser is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 31, 2016 News

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“Grateful patient, grateful relatives, expressions of gratitude from those who “made it” gave me a sense of self-fulfilment as a health care provider throughout my pre-retirement years.”

By Staff Writer
Nursing is undoubtedly a stressful job.  Traumatic situations are common. Sometimes surrounded by

persons who they know will die, nurses will tell you that some days look like non-stop gloom and doom. The ability to accept suffering and death without getting emotional or losing one’s calm is crucial.
Those who can’t remain emotionally detached while on duty, most likely quit. But most don’t, because they are special persons who would have chosen such a profession because of the opportunity they get to make a profound difference on the lives of people who truly need and appreciate it.
One person is Deslyn Bonita Fraser. A resident of Lovely Lass Village, West Coast Berbice, who has given thirty-four years of dedicated service to the profession.
She served as a Staff Nurse/Midwife in both Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), and then as a Public Health Specialist in the area of primary health care.
By   dint of hard and methodical work, she rose   in the ranks of the profession – from that of a Trainee Nurse to Staff Nurse/Midwife to Manager/Supervisor of the primary health care facilities in the aforementioned Regions, prior to retirement in 2015.
After retirement she continues to serve the Ministry of Public Health as a Contractor in the supervisory management of the fourteen Health Centres and the single Health Outpost in Region 5.
She also serves as the Coordinator of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Programme in Region 5 which assists persons who are differently-able, and as a member of the United Bricklayers – a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) which looks mainly at gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination.
She is also a staunch member of the Assemblies of God Church in Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice. And it must not be added that she is the proud mom of Jason Alfred and Deon Alfred-Warde and grandmother of Jaycia Alfred, Jaden Alfred and Delicia Warde.
Nurse Fraser credits her success in the profession to a resolute attitude to being methodical i.e., doing whatever has to be done in the stipulated sequence and also to empathise – having that innate ability to feel what the patient feels, to place herself completely in the shoes of the patient and to work with that understanding   to the best of her ability in helping the patient to recover, where recovery is possible.
EMOTIONALLY STABLE

One of nine children to her parents Cecil Fraser and Shirley Fraser nee Archibald, Deslyn Fraser commenced her endeavours as a Trainee Nurse in 1981 at the School of Nursing in the New Amsterdam Hospital and graduated as a Staff Nurse in 1986.
She recalls instances when injured persons would be brought into the wards in very serious condition and the professional responses which were mandatory.
“In emergency cases, as a professional nurse I had to be emotionally stable at all times. I had to stick to procedures; to triage. Those who are dead are already dead, but those still alive I had to assign levels of urgency to their injuries – to decide the order of treatment; to try to make sure that those still alive remained alive.”
There were of course many heart-warming moments when a patient who looked like he or she couldn’t make it beat the odds and recovered.
“Grateful patient, grateful relatives, expressions of gratitude from those who “made it”   gave me a sense of self-fulfilment as a health care provider throughout my pre-retirement years.”
She developed an interest in midwifery, followed up with the requisite training, and became a Staff Nurse/Midwife in 1988.
Nurse Fraser recalled delivering six babies in one night in a situation where she definitely had to keep her head on.
“I alone was on duty, being responsible for the male and female wards. A woman was dying…then died in the female ward. And then there I was delivering babies… one, two, three, four, five, six – all in one night!
“Dealing with the dead and newborn babies at the same time; mind racing. Do I go home and change my clothes or remain and just change the gown?  You have to stay calm and methodical; this is what comes first, second etc! If you start fretting within yourself you cannot think or function properly.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY

She also spoke of her beliefs on the importance of empathy in dealing with patients.
“Quite a few people who came to give birth sometimes were not aware of the process. They are in pain and agony. And if the birth is delayed they would think that the birth is taking too long. They would panic.
“I remember that a woman came and she said if I don’t give her daughter this thing to drink (some concoction in a bottle) the baby won’t born, and I held her hand…I said to her the womb has been blessed by God and he is the one who formed that baby in the girl’s womb and it is not because of your belief that I think that I should go against God’s will.”
“I said what I can do for her is that I can pray for her and if we pray together I can trust God that he will provide a safe delivery, and I was there talking to her, counselling her, and the mother went away” ;
“Then  she came back, and by the time she pushed the door to the maternity ward open the baby was already born. I said it is not my will, it is God’s will. He knows exactly what he is doing; all things are working through him.”
“I found too that when I explained the birth process to the patient; when it got them to understand that we are in this thing together; that I am there for them, things worked out well.”
“I explained the procedure to the patient every time and they developed a lot of confidence in me. It is not that you leave the patient all alone; you become a part of them, we work together. People will say thanks.”
“You don’t speak to people harshly, since what may make a patient more miserable is your approach. Sometimes you may be in a bad mood, but when you come into contact with people you have to tell them words that will make them feel comfortable. You can actually be a part of them; feel what they are feeling; compassion, encouraging words: ‘push, push, just a little more to go etc!”
She said that for her Nursing was a divine calling.
“This was and still is my way of serving my Lord and Saviour.”
PUBLIC HEALTH IS LONG TERM
In 1998 she moved from the service as a bedside nurse – what she calls curative nursing – to public health or preventative nursing, and served as a Public Health Nurse in the field of Primary Health Care. She served as a Health Visitor at first, and then was eventually promoted to the position of Senior Health Visitor.
This work involved supervisory management of the fourteen Health centres and the one Outpost in Region 5. She was responsible for periodic visits to these centres to ensure quality control over services they offered to the community – to offer advice; help resolve problems, to train Nurses and to look at other administrative duties such as leave rosters, sick leave and other records of the Health Centre Staff.
“Being a public health nurse was very much different from being a bedside-nurse. Hospital or bedside care is short term but public health is long term. After discharge a patient goes home, and that is one point where public health comes in.  We counsel, we educate, we do follow-ups.
“When you execute care to a patient lying on a bed today and they are discharged, you deal with that person alone…but with public health nursing, when one person comes in contact with you, you don’t deal with that person alone, you deal with the entire family and the community.”
“You don’t involve the person alone, you talk to the family, because the family is a strong influence. When the patients, for example pregnant women, come to clinic and you tell them that in cooking they must steam their greens so they can get all the nutrients and all the vitamins, and they go home back and a relative tells them that they had been frying greens all their lives and were no worse health-wise, it tends to make your advice ineffective.
“So in public health you don’t educate the patient alone, you have to educate the entire family. It’s like a woman saying she wants to do family planning. You don’t educate her alone, you let her husband come with her rather than talk to her alone, because if you talk to her alone, when she gets home back there can be a problem between the two of them.”
The public health service provides immunization to target populations in order to eliminate preventable diseases; to eradicate eliminate or reduce diseases to the lowest levels possible through sustained immunization of all susceptible.
Also Maternal Child Health has now changed to Family Health.
Public Health Nursing, she said, also involves home visits to patients who miss appointments for both prenatal and antenatal care among other health centre services.
She also assisted the Regional Health Officer in policy development related to the work of these Health Centres within their various communities.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Nurse Fraser has duly received numerous awards and certificates of recognition for her services over the years.
She has a cardboard folder filled to bursting point with all such accolades, including among others, one for successful completion of a training programme in India in 2011.
She is currently on contract as a Senior Health Visitor in her home district, Region 5.
She concluded the refreshing interview with a humble reflection.
“I am not someone who feels indispensable. The Government may renew my contract, but if they don’t, I think that I am well satisfied with my health care provider service to all who I have helped, either directly or indirectly.”
“And I want to add that my main hobby is farming. I love to eat what I produce and whatever I produce I love to share. I will go on doing what I do best as long as I am needed.”

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