Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Dr. Dacia Embrack

Jul 26, 2020 News

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“I am doing this for the persons who do care, the persons who are trying their best to stay safe…the persons who are working hard every day to do what it takes to provide for themselves and their families while staying safe.”

By Sharmain Grainger

For months now, Guyana, like many other countries across the globe, has been waging war against the dreaded coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Health workers on the frontline are under pressure to keep up with the ever-increasing rate of infection and though the deaths here have been few, they are far too many for this still developing nation.

On the verge of exhaustion, some health workers have questioned whether they made the right call – to risk their lives by delving into a fierce battle against a formidable foe to do their part to keep us from heading down the path of extinction.
Taking such a risk was not nearly an easy decision, many have confided. In fact, quite a few are still baffled at how effortless, in a matter of months, it has become to respond to COVID-19. This is especially since an ignorant few threaten to undermine the gains made by refusing to employ simple measures such as wearing a mask or practicing social distancing.
For Dr. Dacia Embrack, one of the health workers on the frontline at the country’s premiere public health institution – the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), staying focused on the mission becomes easy when she reflects on the reason she opted, several years ago, to be a part of the medical field.
“There are times I want to give up, there are times I think to myself, if no one else cares, then why should I? Why am I putting myself at risk when there are persons not even willing to even wear a facemask?’ are some of the questions that plague her mind at times. But in a split second the answer envelops her very being, much like switching on a high intensity LED light in a pitch-black room, and she quickly, with even more gusto, resumes her battle stance.
“I want to help people, I want to help my family, I want to help my country,” said a passionate Dr. Embrack who often reminds herself, “I am doing this for the persons who do care, the persons who are trying their best to stay safe…the persons who are working hard every day to do what it takes to provide for themselves and their families while staying safe.”
ELDEST OF THREE
Indeed, ever since she was a girl, Dr. Embrack said she knew she wanted to become a health care professional. This was triggered by the fact that her mother, Shelly Embrack, was a nurse.
It was Nurse Shelly’s union with, Leonard Embrack, a photographer/videographer that led to the birth of our Frontline Worker on March 20, 1991.
She was christened Dacia Onezh Embrack, the eldest of three girls.

But before her two sisters, Olivia and Danica, came along, she and her parents were part of an extended family living in her paternal grandmother’s home at Guyhoc Park, Georgetown. At the age of four, and her younger sister just a baby at the time, Dr. Embrack recalled her father moving his family to C Field, South Turkeyen.
Two sisters eventually became three and together they created some fond memories at their new home, some of which Dr. Embrack was eager to share. After school, for instance, she recalled, “I would usually be home hanging out with my sisters. We would go through my mom’s cook-books and try to recreate the recipes. Sometimes we would have to substitute ingredients and that, most times, did not work in our favour,” said Dr. Embrack, laughing out loud.
When she wasn’t busy dabbling in the kitchen, she often found time to escape in a good book. “I love to read, and I read a lot,” she disclosed as she reflected on the younger version of herself. Remembering the move to South Turkeyen, Dr. Embrack recalled that back then utility services such as electricity was simply non-existence for their household. “We used kerosene lamps and I would sit by the lamp at nights to read. I read stories to my younger sister after I would have completed my homework and sometimes I would even sneak a torchlight into my bed to finish a book I was reading after my mom would’ve sent us to bed,” she remembered with glee.

Dr. Embrack’s educational journey started at the St. Christopher Nursery school when she lived in Guyhoc and then continued at the Turkeyen Nursery. She then went on to the Winter Gardens Primary School and later gained a place at the North Georgetown Secondary School where she completed her secondary education.
DEFINING PATH
Although she was long consumed with the desire to join the health care profession, Dr. Embrack admitted, “I just didn’t know the path I would have had to take in order to get there.”
As a girl, she revealed, “I wanted to be a nurse because I wanted to nurse persons back to health. My mom actually got me interested in Medicine because she would tell us stories of her day at work and how good she felt taking care of her patients and I think that inspired me.”
But as she grew older, Dr. Embrack said that she came to the realization that “females can be doctors as well… I always thought that females were nurses and males were doctors.”
Reflecting on the path to becoming a medical practitioner, she disclosed, “after secondary school I applied to the University Of Guyana to study Medicine, however, I did not gain entry because I was told I needed to have more Science subjects. I then applied to the Government Technical Institute (GTI) where I completed the Diploma in Science course after which I applied for the Assistant Pharmacy Course offered by the Ministry of Public Health. I was actually doing that course when I heard about the scholarship programme to study Medicine in Venezuela, and I applied.”
Dr. Embrack recalled that her studies started in 2010 and turned out to be a “wonderful experience”. During her studies, which ended in 2016, she gained an absolute appreciation for the role of a doctor which, she explained, “is to maintain and restore human health through the practice of medicine, and that’s not only physical health but mental health as well.”
“We go about this by examining patients, reviewing their medical history, diagnosing, administering treatment and counseling patients on their health and well-being. We focus not only on individual health but collectively as well… how it can affect the family unit and in turn affect society one way or the other,” she added.
Stressing that “health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in which disease and infirmity are absent,” Dr. Embrack expounded further that “it’s our job to ensure humans are at their optimal health as much as possible. Not only is it our job to promote health but, most critically, to prevent illness and injuries. To help prolong human life, it’s important that one is in optimal health. Better health is central to human happiness and well-being. This is quite critical for the existence of the human race.”
FRONTLINE READY
With ample knowledge and skills to help safeguard the nation, Dr. Embrack, about four months ago, accepted a role on the frontline at the GPHC as part of the hospital’s COVID-19 response. Her place is in the COVID-19 Surveillance Department.
The Department, she revealed, has three eight-hour shifts and “the busiest shift for us is the 8am to 4pm shift. We usually Triage all patients entering GPHC with respiratory symptoms and/or fever using the COVID-19 checklist that was created by the COVID-19 taskforce.” Depending on the results of the checklist, a patient can either be sent to the Accident and Emergency Department for further management, if unstable and needs urgent care, or admitted if suspected to be positive for COVID-19, Dr. Embrack noted.
A shift usually starts with the members of the team ensuring that stocks are intact, and a perusal of a list of persons to be tested follows. “With everything in place, we would begin to see patients as they arrive until the end of our shift then hand-over to the doctors coming in for the next shift. We would always decontaminate our work area and ourselves between shifts,” Dr. Embrack added.
Given the crucial role she plays these days, Dr. Embrack believes that she is being able to truly fulfill the obligation that comes with benefiting from a scholarship – serving the nation to the best of her abilities.
But she didn’t always think that she was good enough for this role. In fact, she divulged, “When I first volunteered to join the Surveillance Department, I was very nervous. I wasn’t sure I had what it required to do the job, however, after working along with some great doctors and nurses as the ones we have on our team, everyday gets easier,” Dr. Embrack intimated.
Learning to cope as a health worker on the frontline has helped to amplify that “we cannot beat this pandemic alone; each one of us has a part to play in the eradication of this virus. Health professionals cannot do it alone, we need the help of every citizen, we have to work as a team if we’re going to beat COVID-19,” Dr. Embrack insisted.
UNWINDING IN PEACE
Although she is married to a colleague on the frontline, Dr. Lefane Luxama who understands all too well how demanding the job can be, Dr. Embrack said they are still able to set aside quality family time. This is important, for it is this aspect of their lives that keeps them grounded and passionate about the mission to help save lives.
In addition to engaging in fun family activities, which are not many these days, Dr. Embrack unwinds sometimes simply by watching some of her favourtite shows on Netflix. She also has a knack for architecture and even spoke of designs she has created for a home she intends to build.
She also has a passion for house-plants, revealing with pride, “I love to go plant shopping and watching videos about plants on Youtube.” She currently has an amazing collection of about 50 house-plants.
And when she isn’t busy getting her hands dirty, she takes time out to play with the recent additions to her family – seven pit-bull pups. “I play with them every day before work and when I get home…it’s very therapeutic,” she confided.

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