Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Nurse Vidya Ketwaroo

Jul 11, 2021 News

“The body begins producing antibodies to the coronavirus with just one shot of the vaccine, and these antibodies help the immune system to fight the virus if you are ever exposed to COVID-19 and this will reduce your chances of serious complications or even death.”

By Sharmain Grainger

Kaieteur News – Vaccine hesitancy has been one of the major challenges faced by health sectors across the globe in the ongoing quest to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. However, being judgmental towards persons who are reluctant to take the vaccine should not be the way forward, according to veteran nurse, Vidya Ketwaroo.

Nurse Vidya Ketwaroo

In fact, she noted that in dealing with such persons, “first you should acknowledge their concerns and be empathetic…ask their willingness to discuss their hesitancy about the vaccine and in what way you can help.”
Once you are able to gain their attention, she continued, “Try to steer them to legitimate sources of information, have a one-on-one talk; teach them about the vaccine and what they should do if any side effect should occur.”
With the use of visual aids, our featured frontline healthcare worker said that efforts should be made to clear up all misconceptions that have surfaced about the vaccine. In so doing, she added that it is important to explain how the vaccine works to protect against the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

With her son, Daniel Singh, who is fully vaccinated.

“Let them be encouraged that no vaccine is 100 percent but when combined with safe distancing, hand hygiene and nutrition, it can be effective in protecting them and their loved ones.” As part of her advocacy, she reminds that although “contraceptives are not 100 percent effective, persons still opt to take them; condoms can burst, yet men use them! Using an umbrella do not protect you from being completely wet, yet you use it!”
Always ready to encourage vaccine uptake, Nurse Ketwaroo explained that “the body begins producing antibodies to the coronavirus with just one shot of the vaccine, and these antibodies help the immune system to fight the virus if you are ever exposed to COVID-19 and this will reduce your chances of serious complications or even death.”

PASSIONATE
Of course, her caring and easy-going ways are the results of years of being a part of the nurturing profession, which she is very passionate about.
Nurse Ketwaroo, who received her professional training at the Georgetown School of Nursing, commenced her career as a Nursing Assistant in 1984. In 1993, she became a professional nurse and by 2003 was a trained midwife as well. Always willing to evolve professionally, in 2011 she delved into public health nursing, an aspect of the profession she was eager to elaborate on.

Attending to patients

As a public health nurse, she is able to give focus to primary prevention (measures to safeguard one’s health) through empowering individuals, families and the community about healthy lifestyles, diet and nutrition. As such, she advocates for the deferral of early sexual activity among youths through school health and helps to ensure that there is appropriate vaccination for them from nursery to secondary.
This aspect of nursing, she said, also gives her the opportunity to plan and execute campaigns for vaccination and Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) for cervical cancer. As a public health nurse too, she has been able to do home visits to the elderly population and, according to her, “maintaining that connection is my main focus” along with “encouraging family involvement in their care.”
She has also been involved in inter-sectoral collaboration with the private sector through which she receives hampers for antenatal mothers and children, and other donations, which benefit chronic diseases clients.

ADVOCATE
But back in February she was required to play an advocate role in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s vaccination site. There, she was instrumental in administering to clients the vaccine at the correct temperature (+2-+8 degrees Celsius). “I attend to our clients as early as 7am Monday to Friday,” said Nurse Ketwaroo who uses her time as well to give health talks in different areas of health concerns.
When asked what made her suitable for this role, she confidently shared, “I was chosen by God who made it possible for me to have a wealth of experience in public health, vaccination campaigns and knowledge on the types of vaccines and their adverse reaction.” She also credits her dedication to the profession, noting that “I am a people’s person and I try to go the extra mile to meet the needs of the clients that are in my care.”
Not oblivious to the risks she takes daily by virtue of working in the health sector, Nurse Ketwaroo said that she “never takes life for granted and appreciates the little things such as the air we breathe and the privilege of waking up to a new day and a job, family and friends, and most of all to acknowledge that there is a living God.”
Although disheartened after a colleague and a friend were diagnosed with COVID-19, Nurse Ketwaroo, who is fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, is happy to remain dedicated to a profession she dreamt of joining when she was just a girl.

MESMERISED
Reflecting on that young period of her life, Nurse Ketwaroo recalled that she was very ill and had to be hospitalised. Intrigued by the “immaculate white uniform and cap” of the nurses she saw, as a child she was mesmerised by “their caring attitude and selfless love…I wanted to care for the sick as they did,” she recalled.

Sharing a moment with a colleague.

The youngest of three girls born to farming couple, Lewis and Isabella Ketwaroo, on March 13, 1967, she grew up at Craig, East Bank Demerara. She attended the Craig Primary and then the Covent Garden Secondary School.
Even amid a raging pandemic that has infected more than 20,000 and killed more than 450 in her homeland, she has no regrets that she joined the nursing profession soon after completing her secondary education. Rather she perseveres with extreme caution, which includes social distancing, proper hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment while on duty, among other measures.
The widowed, mother of one, said that she daily “give thanks to God for divine protection and purification of the air I breathe” so that she can continue to live the dream of being an exceptional nurse.