Our Frontline Worker of the Week is…. Nurse Dexter Bourne

Feb 07, 2021 News

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“People must endeavour to wear their face mask properly and ensure that they learn how to properly put it on, take it off and dispose of, or clean, it.”

By Sharmain Grainger

Kaieteur News – As a young boy growing up in Mabaruma, Region One, Dexter Bourne wrestled for quite some time with the idea of becoming a storekeeper. With an upbringing in our country’s hinterland, this was indeed a lucrative option. But fate decided to have its way with Bourne, when his mother, Gloria Bourne, developed an ailment. Reflecting on that period of his life, he recalled that he was driven by his emotions but mostly by the desire for healthcare knowledge so that he could better care for his mother and eventually others too.
For Bourne, this meant he had to leave the familiarity of Mabaruma and head to Linden in Region 10 to be trained at the Charles Rosa School of Nursing. This, in Bourne’s estimation, was a chance worth taking as he bloomed into manhood. He has ever since been navigating wards and undertaking other nursing duties, and laudably too.
With close to a decade of experience in the nursing profession, last year, Bourne was able to easily secure a place on the medical frontline to wage war against COVID-19, which continues to batter many countries.
Guyana has seen its fair share of infections and deaths but health workers, the likes of Nurse Bourne, understand all too well that “no retreat, no surrender” must continually be their battle cry.
For remaining vigilant and resilient during the most daunting of health crises, Nurse Bourne is today being recognised as our ‘Frontline Worker of the Week.’

NOBLE MOVE

As was mentioned earlier, his ailing mother was the factor that piqued his interest in nursing. But prior to that, a profession in healthcare had never crossed his mind.
His mother and his father, Richard Bourne, had ushered him into the world on December 31, 1977. He would eventually become the fourth child of the eight the couple procreated.
As a young boy, the mind of our featured Frontline Worker was buzzing with ideas of becoming a storekeeper. A storekeeper, he explained, is a manager of a business and is certainly a favoured venture in Mabaruma.
But this quickly became a distant thought when his mother’s health took a turn for the worse. Without delving into the specifics of her condition, Nurse Bourne recalled, “My mom became very sick…I was just nine or 10 then and I had no knowledge of what to do or who to turn to for help.” He made a commitment there and then that he would one day become a nurse.
He was schooled at the Mabaruma and Arakaka primaries in Region One before heading to the North Georgetown Secondary School in the capital city to complete his secondary education. Upon completion, he was equipped with the requisite grades to secure a place at nursing school, which prepped him well to become a dependable healthcare provider.
But nursing, he admitted, can at times be fraught with stigma and discrimination. The noble profession of nursing started centuries ago with women being viewed as the most suitable to perform the nurturing role. However, with the evolution of time, men have gravitated to the profession as well and, according to Nurse Bourne, “being a male in a field with predominantly females, I see it as a privilege.”

COVID WARRIOR

These days Nurse Bourne’s responsibilities include: screening patients for COVID, ensuring that the COVID isolation areas at the Mabaruma Hospital are functioning optimally and conducting COVID tests – both rapid and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). He also plays a key role in helping to transition patients to the isolation wards once they have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Nurse Bourne is also tasked with managing and screening sites including the airstrip, the MV Kimbia ferry upon its arrival at Morawhanna, Kumaka, among other areas.
Having seen up close the effects of the disease while working on the frontline, he noted that now, more than ever, “it is important that we treat everyone with equality, and we must not take life for granted.”
But clearly, Nurse Bourne did not need the arrival of the pandemic to these shores for him to embrace the notion he now shares. He candidly confessed, “It is the love for the job that keeps me going; the love for the people of Mabaruma and the nation by extension keeps me going…and I have always been willing to lend a helping hand when it is needed.”

SAFETY FIRST

Though worried that the possibility exists that he too could contract the disease by virtue of his interaction with patients, Nurse Bourne noted that he strives daily to ensure that fear does not overcome his ability to fight on. To temper sporadic bursts of worry, he ensures that at all times he practices social distancing and all recommended measures, which are especially needed in a hospital setting. But health workers can only do so much. Nurse Bourne said that members of the public must be reminded that even if they have not contracted the disease to date, they continue to be at risk and must therefore adhere to the necessary safeguard measures, which include the wearing of a face mask. But wearing a face mask irresponsibly is just as bad as not wearing one at all. Moreover, Nurse Bourne noted that “people must endeavour to wear their face mask properly and ensure that they learn how to properly put it on, take it off and dispose of, or clean, it.”
Moreover, our Frontline Worker has been taking his role to help sensitize the people of Mabaruma about COVID-19 very seriously. “I participate in health talks on COVID-19 at schools, bus parks, in communities, etc.,” said Nurse Bourne, who remains prepared to do what must be done in the quest to obliterate the disease.

 

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