Our ‘Frontline Worker of the Week’ is Dr. Dwayne Kellman

May 10, 2020 News

By Sharmain Grainger

Another week has dawned but there is no end in sight to the deadly rampage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe. Here in Guyana, we’ve recorded 94 cases with 10 deaths at the time of writing this article.

Frontline Worker of the Week, Dr. Dwayne Kellman

It would seem that our healthcare workers, the valiant warriors on the frontlines, simply can’t catch a break, at least not yet. Just when we think perhaps a lull is upon us, more cases are reported, and the announcement of a death is slipped into the conversation. The question is asked by many ‘when will it all become a memory buried so deep that we begin to wonder if it was merely a figment of an overactive imagination?’ But that day isn’t today, and our health care workers can attest to that.
They are, nevertheless, prepared to fight on. Pushed beyond their limits yes, but never surrendering to exhaustion and certainly not to an enemy seeking to devour the most vulnerable among us.
FERVENT APPEAL
Far too many are still falling prey to this disease, health officials have repeated. People must take every precaution. Failure to do so will mean triumph for the enemy’s side, and Dr. Dwayne Kellman is simply not prepared to see the valiant efforts of healthcare workers, especially those in the Emergency Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), be undermined by those unwilling to accept that this threat is real.
Self-discipline is paramount, he said, adding, “Let us…be our brothers’ keeper, adhere to the guidelines and respect the curfew. This fight is far from over and things will not be the same thereafter in society.”
He cautions too, “Don’t be that person who ignores everything and still feels that ‘I can’t get that’ or ‘bush will cure all’. Don’t be the person responsible for getting someone else infected. That could have been your family member, a grandparent, a mother or father, a child; worst case scenario they can die. Do you want to bare that burden? Let’s have a conscience, the entire world is going through this.”
Moreover, Dr. Kellman has made a fervent appeal for persons to adapt to tough measures now, in order to safeguard themselves and family so that they can have

Prepared to wage war against COVID-19

a presence in the future. “Yes, it is hard, but it will not be forever! We will overcome!” he assured.
FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
Doctors in the Emergency Department are usually the first line of defense in a health care system. As such Dr. Kellman described the emergency department as “the face of any hospital; it is a vital service and one that is a specialty service in its own right. We help to streamline patients and prioritize those that need care in a timely manner.”
As such, those within this department have long grown accustomed to battling some of the most horrid of health crises. Simply put, they have to be constantly thinking on their feet in order to ascertain a patient’s condition before proceeding to treat to the point of stabilising then passing on to other specialist colleagues to continue what they so desperately strove to achieve – to save a life. Although he considers becoming a father to his two children – Kaia Yokum and Kayden Kellman – a great achievement, he confided that, “there is no greater feeling than saving a life”.
But the best outcome is not always forthcoming, Dr. Kellman admitted. “There are many happy and fulfilling moments when a life is saved with an emergency intervention but sometimes it is not enough and we have to face death.”
But why even bother to put the effort in when the outcome could be fatal? Dr. Kellman’s answer to this is that everyone deserves a fighting chance regardless of who they are. In fact, it was because he recognized this that he continues to practice health care at our country’s premier health institution. “I could have left after my initial contracted time was over but I always told myself we can’t all leave Guyana; who would attend to our people?”
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Born Dwayne Andre Kellman on May 4, 1987, the elder of two children, to the union of Godfrey and Elizabeth Kellman, he remembers spending the first 12 years of his life at his grandmother’s residence in Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara.

In the company of his parents and sister

His father, a career mechanical engineer and his mother an office worker eventually moved their family, which later included his sister, Kelly-Ann, to a domicile at Houston, East Bank Demerara. He remained resident there until just before marriage to his sweetheart, Connie.
Dr. Kellman and his wife currently reside at Daisy Street, South Ruimveldt Park, Georgetown with their two children.
Reminiscing on his young days, he recalled attending the Eccles Nursery School and then the Eccles Primary for one year before being transferred to the Stella Maris Primary. He fondly remembers being a member of the school’s Kiskadee house. “I was also a part of ‘Sir’ Chandra’s Lessons, this was like a second school,” he joked.
As he reflected on his past, he spoke of being a cricket fanatic, a status he proudly retains to date. “We played before class started, break time, lunch time and after school. This was for both primary and secondary.” Dr. Kellman is an old boy of Queen’s College. “I did six years there and then was able to acquire a government scholarship to study medicine in Cuba. I attended the Camaguey School of Medical Sciences. I later did my post graduate studies in Emergency Medicine through the University of Guyana,” he divulged.
When asked what propelled him into the field of medicine, he intimated, “honestly, I always wanted to be one of two things in life, an engineer or a doctor. I thoroughly enjoyed mathematics and physics but I also always had a very sensitive and empathetic side. However, I believed, ultimately, I would better serve humanity as a doctor; I always took pride in caring for others. This was never a hard decision for me as I love people!”
NEVER A DULL DAY
Offering his services in the Emergency Department is as natural as breathing for Dr. Kellman. And this he learnt from those who came before and are still setting an outstanding example.
“The Emergency Department is one that is dynamic and full of surprises. We get the opportunity to manage a wide variety of acute disease presentations in both paediatric and adult patients. There is never a dull day,” Dr. Kellman revealed.
As a Registrar since 2018, he is sometimes required to be the leader in the Emergency Department and on those occasions, his shift begins at 7am or 7pm. On other days, his shift starts at 8am or 8pm. Each shift spans a period of 12 hours and he completes at least four of these weekly. “Normally, before my shifts, I like to recap a few protocols then it’s just positive energy from there on. Shifts are generally grueling. We do have protected break times but if it’s busy and we have very sick patients, that for me takes precedence,” he assured.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 here in Guyana, the GPHC’s Emergency Department has become an even more intense area of work. This is owing to Dr. Kellman’s explanation that all patients who enter this department are treated as suspected COVID-19 cases that are clinically unstable and in need of urgent or immediate care. “This simply means getting them as stable as possible before being transferred for further care,” he said.
Even before Guyana recorded its first case, Dr. Kellman was already in combat mode for the disease by “assisting with house checks on patients who had returned from overseas who were in self-quarantine. I continue to assist where possible and be a team player which is essential to fight this pandemic.”
Being a part of the medical response to this disease, he disclosed, wasn’t a hard choice since “I wanted to be there to serve and help. When patient zero died…a lot of staff went into self-isolation, even though I wasn’t scheduled to work, I was there to support my co-workers.”
Such is the nature of the job that Dr. Kellman and his colleagues carry out on a daily basis as they help to safeguard our nation from being annihilated by COVID-19. But it is because of the level of preparation that a medical practitioner must learn to perform in an Emergency Department setting, that Dr. Kellman and his colleagues are able perform exceptionally under pressure.
Having accepted that “with everything in life there are risks”, Dr. Kellman noted that “it is our preparation and discipline that makes the difference”. The desire to give his best comes from traits embedded in him years earlier by his parents who, he said, “always taught me to be thorough, work hard and do things well regardless of what that task is; most importantly to be respectful and show kindness.”
For staying the course and not giving up when most needed, we at Kaieteur News today ascribe our title of ‘Frontline Worker of the Week’ to Dr. Dwayne Kellman.

“Don’t be that person who ignores everything and still feels that ‘I can’t get that’ or ‘bush will cure all’. Don’t be the person responsible for getting someone else infected. That could have been your family member, a grandparent, a mother or father, a child; worst case scenario they can die. Do you want to bare that burden? Let’s have a conscience, the entire world is going through this.”