I give my all to nursing

Fiona Nanfuka

“Everybody around here knows Fiona Nanfuka,” remarked a member of the AAR Ntinda clinic staff, when she asked about the longest serving nurse at the healthcare facility.

“For 14 years, she has served diligently and with a smile. Everyone knows her.”

But had she always wanted to be a nurse? True to her colleague, Nanfuka, 45, reveals, with a smile that her passion for nursing was born during O-Level at Mengo Secondary School in Kampala.

“I was inspired by my aunt with whom I lived, who was a nurse. She paid my school fees and kept encouraging me to take on the profession,” she says. Then, she would see her aunt help people in pain.

Eventually, she attained a Diploma in Nursing at Nsambya Nurses Training School in 1995, kicking off her career at Nsambya hospital thereafter.

At first she faced many challenges owing to the fact that the job took most of her time something most people could not understand. But this did not sway her ambition.

Fulfilling journey
After practicing in Nsambya hospital for five years, she decided to venture into the private sector thus joining AAR’s first clinic at Clement Hill in 2001.

Five years later, her star shone and she earned promotion to become head nurse until 2011. She was then promoted to clinic administrator and transferred to AAR Ntinda clinic where she currently serves.

Despite working in a hospital for years, death is still something the 45-year-old finds challenging to deal with.

“Each time a patient dies, my emotions run low. Many a time I get disappointed, feeling that perhaps I did not do enough to help them recover. Gladly here, we don’t usually get very ill patients, so deaths are minimal,” Nanfuka, who was born to the late Kamya Kirunda and Aidah Nalubega in Kampala, says.

It took her some time to learn how to break news of a patient’s death to their family. Nanfuka also recalls her days as a nurse in the emergency room - where she would move in an ambulance to pick patients - as those that trigger an adrenaline rush. She would more often feel the ambulance is not fast enough and it needed to fly so that the patient would be saved.

On family
Asked how she is able to take care of her children amid the hectic nursing schedule, Nanfuka cites the support of her loving aunt Rosette Musoke who always takes care of the children when they are on holiday. Her employer also comes in handy too.

“Many times I ask for a salary loan and it is availed. My children have not lacked tuition. In fact, I managed to build a house off the loan service.”

Nanfuka goes on to disclose that single motherhood calls for tough measures and decisions.
“Persistence, perseverance and hard work have propelled me this far.”
Regardless of the government policies that do not favour nurses that much, Nanfuka praises her employer for holding her in high esteem. “ I am particularly inspired by the motherly nature of one of founding members, Beckman Mary. “She treats us well despite visiting us once in a while.”

Challenges
“Many people, especially family don’t understand the nature of my work. They feel abandoned because I spend most of my time at work,” Nanfuka says. Unlike other professions, hers cannot allow her have an extra source of income. “Nursing is a commitment. I cannot juggle it with some other job. I may end up cheating my patients yet my passion is to serve them,” she points out.

Future
Nanfuka hopes to start her own clinic using her knowledge and skills acquired. Together with her aunt, she also plans to start an elderly home at her aunt’s home which she says is big and spacious.

“Many elderly are sometimes neglected by their families and left to die helplessly,” she says.
The nurse speaks fondly of her brood; the eldest being in Senior Five at Makerere College School; the second in Primary Seven and the youngest of four years in pre-school.

Nanfuka calls upon young people to embrace nursing saying one can never lack a job. “Even if you fail to get a job, a nurse can create one,” she states.