‘Initially I was so scared of working in isolation unit’

On the frontline of the fight against coronavirus are medics and clinical staff who receive recognition for good work. 

However, little is said about other frontline hospital staff who ensure that the cogs in the wheels of clinical treatment move.

One such person is 23-year-old Shema Aluda, who is a cleaner at Nairobi Hospital.

She took up the job to enable her pay college fees for diploma in ICT studies.

Shema has been working at the hospital for the last two years.

She was assigned the hospital’s isolation unit meant to accommodate persons confirmed to have the coronavirus three weeks ago.

Though it wasn’t the first time that she was working in an isolation unit, Shema was initially scared.

“The difference that I have seen with this isolation unit is wearing of all these PPEs,” she says, while comparing the units that she has worked in before, including the ICU.

Her neighbours ask her to stay away because of the nature of her job that has now placed her close to coronavirus patients.

“I just do as they wish. I stay in my house,” she says.

When she feels low, Shema talks to her mother who prays for her every day to be safe.

In the isolation room, she focuses on disinfecting the high touchable areas like doorknobs, handrails and other general areas and emptying the infectious waste of the patients.

For three weeks now, Shema has been solely dedicated to the unit. She and her colleagues were trained by the hospital on proper donning and doffing (removal) of the PPE, an integral part of infection prevention.

“Initially I was scared, so I could mess the process of wearing the PPE. It took me two days to fully master the process,” she says.

Despite being fully dressed in PPE, Shema says initially she was anxious and afraid of working in the isolation unit and panicked when a patient came close.

“I did not even do my work well,” she says. “Every time I came close to one of the patients I kept wondering where I would get help.”

Now she is confident and explains the process of donning and doffing of the PPE just like the nurses she closely works with at the unit.

Take it out on her

When a patient came close to enquire about something or cough when she was in the room, she feared that she might contract the virus.

“They would ask me why I was dressed in PPE; some would ask me about life outside because they are confined to a limited space in the isolation unit,” she says.

Before starting work, Shema first introduces herself to the patients and lets them know what she has gone to do in their rooms because when gowned in full PPE, it is difficult to know who one is.

“I ask them how they have been, if they have eaten or not and whether there is anything that they would like me to provide,”  she says.

Shema speaks fondly of one patient who was discharged and later appreciated the team for being kind to him when he was in the unit.

It is not all rosy at work; some patients who are unhappy with their situation take it out on her and her colleagues. About this, Shema says they take it as a bad day at work and wish the patient speedy recovery.

Every time she goes into the isolation unit, she takes up to one and a half hours. The less time she stays in the unit, the better for her in minimising contact with the patients. In a day, she may need to go into the unit twice to clean.

“If I think I’ll take more than the required time inside, I have to come out first, remove the PPE, take a shower before wearing the PPE once again and return to finish the work,” she explains, about the hospital’s strict rules on infection prevention among staff.

She is grateful that the hospital ensures she is in full PPE at all times to access the isolation unit.

“We just need to observe all the measures that have been put in place and not be afraid, though this disease is real,” she concludes.