Comfort Asoogo is one of our grantees from the South Africa program in 2010. Ms. Asoogo holds a Master’s in Nursing from University of Cape Town and a BSc in Oncology from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. She lives and works in Ghana.
Ghana has a total population of 30 million people and has reported 11,900 COVID-19 cases through June 15th, 2020. 4,200+ people have recovered according to the latest figures from the Ghana Health Ministry. It is under these conditions that Ms. Asoogo works as a head nurse in the Pediatric Oncology unit of the second largest hospital in Ghana. She is the head nurse and the key point of contact for the sanitation measures of the unit. She oversees the safety, not just of patients and their families, but also of the staff working in the hospital.
Ms. Asoogo describes her experience:
COVID-19 Pandemic is a nightmare that I do not ever want to remember in my life. The pandemic has created a global surprise to us with Ghana not in isolation. In a developing country like Ghana, where there are limited resources or no equipment to work with, the pandemic made it worse.
With my little experience in public health, I was equipped with knowledge and skills in managing infectious diseases. I reassured myself and kept calm adhering to all the preventive precautionary measures. As the in-charge of the Pediatric Oncology unit I needed to ensure safety of my staff, patients and the supporting families so I established a pre-triaging protocol where all patients and their parents as well staff are pre-screened by checking temperatures using the gun thermometer, hand washing protocol, hand sanitizer application and simple use of face mask. These were put in place to ensure early detection of suspected cases and isolate for further investigation. I also had the task of ensuring a sustainable staff strength at all levels. I had to put my staff in two groups with each group being divided into sub-groups to do a 12-hour shift on weekly bases and then the second group takes over. This was to reduce the contact time with patients in the hospital environment and achieving maximum patient care with less risk of contact with patients. It was also to make sure that in case of contact with positive patients, they could be quarantined then the other group takes over the ward so that the ward does not close.
With this I have been able to achieve a significant maximum patient care with little stress on my staff and recording no incident of suspected COVID-19 in my unit for now due to the stringent measures put in place even though my department had recorded more than 30 staff affected.
I also had to maintain social distancing on the unit by spacing out patient’s beds, reducing the number of visitors to one per day and making sure that staff are provided with basic protective equipment to work with. Taking this opportunity to thank World Child Cancer UK who supported my unit and staff with PPE from the onset till now.
My patient’s population is an at risk group hence I had to look around for accommodation for some patient’s around the hospital to stay and receive their chemotherapy so they don’t have to travel and mix with people in commercial vehicles thereby increasing their risk of contracting covid-19. World Child Cancer UK also sponsored this initiative.
It has been a challenging time especially during limited or no PPE to work with putting people at risk, fear and panic but a learning experience as well especially hearing about the number of healthcare workers affected worldwide, with a few also affected in Ghana.
