Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Nurse Locrecia Inniss

May 02, 2021 News

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“The road isn’t easy, there are times when you get challenges but because of your love for the profession and your desire to help others, you will never feel the need to quit.”

By Romario Blair

Kaieteur News – With an increasing number of persons vaccinated, it appears that we may finally have a shot at winning the fight against COVID-19. But for our frontline workers in the healthcare system, the increase in confirmed cases nationwide is just a reminder that the fight against the pandemic is not yet over.
Their fight, nevertheless, is admirable, as they have succeeded in helping to control the spread of the virus since it first infiltrated our shores last year March.
Nurse Locrecia Lavern Inniss, for instance, has been doing her bit to help tackle the pandemic in the Cinderella County of Essequibo.
During an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, the 44-year-old healthcare worker described her almost one-year experience on the frontline since the onset of COVID as “off-the-wall.”
Nurse Locrecia, who serves as a Staff Nurse/Midwife at the Suddie Public Hospital’s Quarantine Department, is primarily tasked with monitoring suspected cases until their test results return.
The Suddie Hospital is the main healthcare institution on the Essequibo Coast and its services extend to Moruca in Region One.
Although working in the Quarantine Department was challenging at first, as Moruca was once a hotspot for COVID-19, Nurse Locrecia has adapted to new measures that aided her efficiency and effectiveness. The nurse, who now lives at Zorg-en-Zylt on the Essequibo Coast, revealed that, “I’ve been working in quarantine for almost a year…this July will be a year. I work with the maternal patients and initially I found that most of my patients were from Moruca.”
She related too that “in quarantine, it calls for great precaution because there, patients are awaiting their results. We don’t know who is positive and who isn’t and at times a mother may go into labour before her test results return.”
With over 25 years of experience in the medical field, Nurse Locrecia has learnt that patience and empathy are two crucial qualities one must possess, “if they are to get through a typical shift.” She said that since the year 1994, her desire was always to become a nurse hence she tried to adopt the humility that the career requires.

Fuelled by love
When asked what sparked her interest in nursing, Nurse Locrecia said, “I love helping people, and I thought to myself, what better way to help people than in a more professional way, so I became a nurse.”
Was it everything she imagined it would be? She intoned, “It can be challenging at times, but at the end of it all, I feel great knowing that I played a role in relieving someone’s pain. It’s rewarding to know that someone was critical but you were a part of their care and they were able to get up and go again.”
While she has never married or bore any children of her own, Nurse Locrecia related that there’s an “upside” to being single and this, she said, was evident by the freedom she got to further her studies.
After graduating from the Abram Zuil Secondary School in 1994, she immediately went after a career in nursing. But it took several years before it really took off, she recalled.
“I was encouraged by a Church member to join the profession, so I applied and did the interview. In 1995 I was selected for a one-year training and after the training I was successful and was appointed as a nurse aid in 1996,” she related.
As her ambition grew, so did her desire to continue the academic climb. “I decided I don’t want to be in one position all the time so I applied to do professional nursing and after an interview I was given an opportunity to be a nursing assistant.”
Though things did not go according to plans, Nurse Locrecia said, “I took the opportunity though it wasn’t my dream to be a nursing assistant. I took the opportunity and after two years of training, I did a six months course in Georgetown to be trained as a scrub nurse, that is, to work in the theatre as an assistant during surgery.”
In the year 2004, she again applied for professional nursing training but was asked to do a Midwifery programme. “There was a shortage of midwives and I applied to do the professional nursing but the matron at that time called and asked if I can be in the Midwifery programme,” she recalled. In 2015, she finally commenced her training in professional nursing. Sadly, it was during her training that Nurse Locrecia experienced one of the greatest pains known to man – the death of a loved one.
Losing a mother
Nurse Locrecia is the second of eight children born to Robert and Indra Inniss. The loss of her mother, she related, was especially devastating since she shared a close relationship with her.
“My mother was my best friend and my father used to say I’m his heart string. I used to go out of my way for both my parents. When my mom passed, I took it really hard. I even got sick because I wasn’t eating; if I did, it was hardly anything.”
While she was still grieving the loss of her mother, Nurse Locrecia said that she also had to provide the emotional support for her elderly father who was also devastated by the tragedy. “Daddy use to get sick as well, he was really traumatised. There was this one time he got really sick and at the hospital he said that his time has come. But I give him the emotional support and since then he’s taking it one day at a time.”
Fighting COVID-19
As she continues the fight against COVID-19, Nurse Locrecia said that her role is to provide as much care to a patient as possible, while remaining safe. “Being in Quarantine (Department) wasn’t exactly my choice because I live with my 78-year-old father who’s hypertensive and a diabetic case but I said once I have my PPE I don’t mind.”
Over the years, Nurse Locrecia said that she has grown to love her job, particularly the aspect of delivering new bundles of joy. “I’m proud to be a nurse; you feel good when years down the line, your patients call and say you deliver this baby. The best part is that patients recognise the goodness and kindness.”
Proud of the career path she decided to take years ago, Nurse Locrecia advised that those venturing into the profession must do so with a good attitude. She added, “The road isn’t easy, there are times when you get challenges but because of your love for the profession and your desire to help others, you will never feel the need to quit.”

 

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