Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Dr. Nichole Nedd-Jerrick

Jun 28, 2020 News

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By Sharmain Grainger

We are not all cut from the same cloth. If we were the world would have been an especially dreary and bleak place with robotic and expected outcomes rather than spontaneous ingenuity manifested here and there bringing with it awe to our existence.
So clearly, although we all represent a part of the human race, we recognise, and should accept that each have traits that demonstrate our uniqueness and importance.

Though we may not always be receptive of another’s or even our own distinctiveness we are what we are and sometimes must struggle to fit in to prove we belong.
For some of us our true potential, our absolute reason for existence, befuddles, but then an encounter, an experience even, brings us to the realization of our purpose.
While the young version of Dr. Nichole Nedd-Jerrick, bursting at the seams with ‘fashionable ideas’, was convinced that she was born into this world to become a seamstress, it was an encounter that brought her to the realization that she had so much more gusto within. What she possessed was enough to propel her into the medical field to help make better the injured and the infirmed.
In fact, these days she is outfitted with insurmountable zeal that has made her suitable to be on the frontline to combat one of the most dreaded public health threats the world has ever seen – COVID-19.
The unction, she recalled, was awaken when she witnessed a health worker care for a patient. That health worker was her own maternal grandmother – Ms. Melisha Toney. Dr. Nedd-Jerrick recently reflected on that defining moment. “I wanted to become a seamstress but one of my primary school teachers encouraged me to become a doctor or lawyer. Well, that’s the story in a nutshell – the longer version is more interesting. A few years later, my interest in the medical field was further stimulated as I observed my grandmother, who was a Medex at the time, care for a trauma patient.”
Because of that exposure she decided to acquire knowledge and, ever since, has been honing skills to become an outstanding medical practitioner who has today taken a lead role in the fight against COVID-19 in our dear land.

But must, however, be noted that, deep within, she still possesses astounding creative talent which she unleashes, occasionally, to enthuse a world thirsty for some spontaneity.
FOUNDATION
Dr. Nedd-Jerrick’s entry into the world was on April 23, 1975. She and her younger brother, Ossie Nedd, were privileged to be raised by parents Aubrey Nedd, a former Deputy Headmaster of the Cove and John Secondary School, and Genevieve Whyte-Nedd, a former Chief Education Officer (ag). Back then, home was Two Friends Village on the East Coast of Demerara although, she recalled, a few years of her upbringing were spent in Linden.
She attended the Clonbrook Primary School also on the East Coast of Demerara and the then Watooka Day School in Linden before claiming a place at The Bishops’ High School where she completed her secondary education. Her favourite pastimes as you probably guessed was sewing. Calligraphy consumed some of her time as well.
But after being enticed by things medical she decided to delve into the Medicine programme (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery – MBBS) at the University of Guyana and later completed a Master’s at the University of London, UCL.
To complement the knowledge she possesses, Dr. Nedd-Jerrick is currently reading for a postgraduate diploma in Mental Health Policy and Services at the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health, NOVA Medical School located in Portugal.

Her specialty as a medical practitioner is primary health care which she executes effortlessly at the Enmore Polyclinic which falls under the purview of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Dr. Nedd-Jerrick has been at the East Coast Demerara health facility for 15 years now and has, for the past 13 years, sat at its helm.
She is dedicated to primary health care here in Guyana to the point that she believes that “my medical and professional input is needed more here than abroad.”
SPECIALTY
Explaining the importance of her specialty, she said, “primary health care is the main pivot of health care in any country. It provides the first level of care for all health needs for patients of all ages, and the focus is on prevention and treatment of various conditions. Since the care is continuous, patients are required to attend clinic regularly, for example: antenatal mothers, children for vaccinations, and chronic disease patients.”
But with efforts engaged to combat COVID-19, these days a typical work-day for Dr. Nedd-Jerrick begins with her “working with a nurse to screen patients for COVID before they enter the compound of the Polyclinic. This is also a triage process, so it allows us to determine what type of care each patient needs – emergency, dressing, chronic disease, acute illness, antenatal, vaccination, etc.”
After she and a team of doctors manage the patients, Dr. Nedd-Jerrick then proceeds to complete work of an administrative nature.
“My role is as a medical practitioner and institution head at the primary care level. At the Polyclinic, I started by preparing a policy document to guide our response. As a clinic, we have sought to take steps, to reduce and prevent the spread of COVID, by ensuring hand-washing before entering the compound, patient screening, management and referral. We also promote prevention through education,” said Dr. Nedd-Jerrick.

She has come to recognize that quick and continuous adaptation is crucial to the COVID-19 response. According to her, the response has seen the health facility “shifting care from the building to the open area in the yard of the clinic; changing our prioritization of care, and scaling back a few services such as phlebotomy; equipping ourselves daily with knowledge about the virus, since some of the information changes, and there is a lot that is not known.”
SUPPORT
Indeed, Dr. Nedd-Jerrick’s training in primary health care is always applicable in the delivery of health care and she knows this all too well. Pointing to this, she said, “primary care is essential, and needs to be provided despite any type of threat, hence we have had to adapt and have continued working to prevent a disruption in services.”
In this regard, she said, a team, complete with public safety officers, pharmacy staff, social worker, ancillary staff, HIV counsellor-tester, and doctors and nurses, was set-up at the Polyclinic dedicated to the care of patients.
The team is provided with administrative, logistic support and guidance from the GPHC. The response of the Polyclinic, Dr. Nedd-Jerrick said, has also been well supported by members of the community. “We are profoundly grateful for the partnership…we received loans of tents from Mr. Tiwari, Mr. Jailall, and Mr. Harikishun; money for construction of a hand-washing area from the NDC; masks from Mr. Nauth and Dr. Persaud, and cleaning supplies from the Rotary Club,” she added with delight.
BALANCE
Although she gives her all as she aims for the best possible outcomes at the Polyclinic, Dr. Need-Jerrick recognizes the need to strike a balance between her profession and family life.
Resident at Ann’s Grove with a family of her own – husband Raul and three children (sons – Dondre, 14, and Kadre, 12, and daughter Thalia, 10), she admitted that it is sometimes tough to balance work and family. But she does try her best to get it right. “I attempt to do this by setting some boundaries and, over time, making some changes. I ensure that the administrative work of the clinic is done there, and not at home. I try to assign daily timetables for my children, which they often blissfully ignore. My dad assists me greatly with my children’s schoolwork,” she shared.
In striving to be the best version of herself she compartmentalizes roles and responsibilities as she evolves.
In so doing she serves as a volunteer teacher at her former school, Clonbrook Primary, teaching basic music theory and recorder practice. “This would have been my 10th year teaching, but it was interrupted because of the pandemic,” said Dr. Nedd-Jerrick who also performs teaching duties in the Alpha Adventurer Club at her church, Ann’s Grove Seventh-day Adventist.
Added to this, she serves as Head of the Training and Education Committee of the Guyana Haemophilia Society.
Dr. Nedd-Jerrick said she finds time too, though not much, to explore the baking of various cakes, girlishly adding, “they are quite tasty, most of the time.”
But nothing can compare to her ingrained passion for sewing. According to this fashionista, “I love to sew and would spend an entire day sewing if I could.” Her couture, though created mainly for herself and daughter, are glamorous enough to grace the runway of just about any fashion show.

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