4 April, 2008

Abu Bakarr S. Tarawally

Red Cross enrolls 36 Nurses

Thirty-six nurses of the Institute of Nursing Education and Hygiene, at Murray Ojuku, east of Freetown, were enrolled as Red Crossers last Saturday.

The 36 nurses went through rigorous training on first aid medical services with a background on emergency preparedness. The operations coordinator, Mr. Carew, said the nurses were trained in this area so that they can tackle various emergency cases in the communities. He said Red Crossers believed in humanitarian services therefore the enrolled nurses should anticipate the seven principles of the Red Cross and subscribe to the spirit of voluntarism.

The eastern community in Freetown is prone to health vulnerabilities, said Dr. Moses Koh Conteh. The Dr. who has been observing the community for the past five years said that people in the eastern community most of the time died because there are less or no medical service providers. He added that the eastern communities lie some seven miles away from the Connaught Hospital, a distance most patients could not withstand before they reached the hospital. Dr. Conteh said it is in this regard that he is establishing a health center in that part of the city.

Dr. Conteh warned the nurses that they must not offer any service that is not first aid to accident victims being that the Red Cross training is just an induction phase of their medical studies. He said he needed the moral, financial and material support of the community people so as to actualize his dream of providing health care services for the eastern community.

The Red Cross Western Area Branch Health Officer, Mrs. Juana Jones, reiterated that Red Cross is an auxiliary body to the Government in that they are complementing the efforts of other health institutions in treating and preventing emergency health situations.

She said that Red Cross has been partners in the implementation of community hygiene programs in the different communities of Sierra Leone.

She highlighted that the eastern community has had in recent times problems with the delivery of children and that many women died in the process. She promised to work in tandem with the Red Cross group leader, Mrs. Aminata KS Nicol to salvage the much trumpeted child delivery crisis in the east of Freetown.

The ceremony climaxed with the presentation of Certificate of Membership to the nurses.

Badges were also decorated to 18 nurses out of the 36 that donated blood to the Red Cross blood bank. The Red Cross official urged everybody to donate blood to save the lives of the ill that needed blood to survive. He said one could donate as many units of blood until the age of 60 without repercussions.

Moreover, Lawyer Ibrahim F. Mansaray inaugurated the institutions signboard on the same occasion.

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