Angelina Vermeulen from the Free State was named the country's most caring nurse at the recent annual Marilyn Lahana Trust Caring Awards hosted by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South African (Denosa).
According to a Pretoria News report, she topped the list of nine competitive nurses who were recognised as the most caring nurses in their provinces. She was followed by runner-up Engela Maria Cornelia Smit from the Northern Cape and second runner-up Dorothy Mamabolo-Loti from Gauteng.
Vermeulen is a professional nurse with a bachelors’ degree in nursing. She founded the Itekeng Support Group 24/7 Care Centre in 2001. She was the author of scores of poems about HIV/Aids which sought to educate the community about breastfeeding and breast milk.
She said: "I am so happy and proud. This shows I was recognised for all my hard work. I did not expect this and I am sure the other finalists are just as much deserving as I am because, after all, it is about serving our patients with the integrity they deserve."
Mamabolo-Loti said she was proud to be the second runner-up and to put Gauteng high on the list. She said she hoped more and more great nurses could emerge to improve the country's public health.
The report says the Marilyn Lahana Trust Caring Awards recognised members of the nursing and midwifery professions who showed special quality of caring and dedication in relation to their patients and colleagues. Marilyn Lahana was a Johannesburg nurse who contracted Ebola when she cared for a patient who was flown in from Gabon in 1996. The patient was a doctor who himself had contracted the virus from a patient he was caring for in Gabon. Marilyn was the first casualty of Ebola in South Africa and died a few days later at age 46.
Marilyn's former husband, Cyril Lehana, attended the event with their daughter Debby Gibson. Gibson travelled from Scotland with her children Ross and Jessica, who are Marilyn's grandchildren. He said: "I am proud that the awards were named after Marilyn because we don't recognise our nurses a lot as a country. It is very important that nurses are also recognised for all the good work that they do because that will encourage more nurses to do their best. I am sure Marilyn would be proud to see these nurses being recognised like this,"
Denosa's president, Simon Hlungwani, and former president, Ephraim Mafalo, encouraged nurses to continue doing their best to certain that the country's healtcare satisfied the masses. The report says Mafalo, thinking of the Life Esidimeni incident, said nurses should not be afraid to resist political interference at no point in their careers. He said: "Those medical practitioners, suspended Gauteng Health Department head Tiego Ephraim Selebano and former Gauteng director of mental health Dr Makgabo Manamela have this profession.
"I am not saying nurses should defy doctors but when the life of a patient is in danger, a nurse can argue with a doctor and even refuse to administer medication that threatened the life of the patient. All these nurses here know that. It is part of the training they received. With that said, I do not understand how those medical practitioners failed to say no to some useless politician. They should have refused to move those patients from a safe place to an unlicensed NGO,"
Acting general secretary Cassim Lekhoathi congratulated all the finalists and said being nominated among the many thousands of nurses across the country was testimony of their hard work.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/sas-most-caring-nurse-named-12475910"]Pretoria News report[/link]