Human Rights and Nursing Awards
Citations for the Human Rights and Nursing Awards 2015
Nursing Ethics 2015, Vol. 22(4) 401–403 ª The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav 10.1177/0969733015585404 nej.sagepub.com
The International Care Ethics Observatory is pleased to announce that on 17 July 2015, the Human Rights and Nursing Awards will be given at a short ceremony at the University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. The Awards will be presented during the conference organized by the International Care Ethics Observatory in conjunction with Nursing Ethics.
Citation for Eileen Greene Eileen is currently a nursing teacher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia (BC), Canada. In 2004, she accompanied an international team, including an AIDS research specialist, to Namibia, Africa, where she observed first-hand the AIDS crisis and the challenges the country was facing in its wake. In 2007, Eileen led her first group of Camosun College Nursing students from Victoria, BC, Canada, to Namibia for an intercultural experience and the opportunity to work in a 850-bed inner-city hospital. Working at the Katutura Hospital in Windhoek, Namibia, both inspired and discouraged her. Eileen met Maria there, a 16-year-old girl afflicted by AIDS, and her mother Monica. Together they struggled to care for Maria who tragically died from a disease, which may have been prevented by education. In Maria’s memory, Eileen and Monica started The Home of Good Hope, a ‘soup kitchen’ targeting children in the impoverished black community in the township of Katutura. The people there live in shantytown
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
402
Nursing Ethics 22(4)
homes with few amenities such as running water, electricity, and toilets. At its inception in 2007, the soup kitchen fed approximately 40 children; today, 535 children depend on The Home of Good Hope to fulfil much of their basic requirements for survival. Eileen remains the project manager, working back in Victoria, BC, Canada, to raise funds and attract donors. She has travelled to Namibia every year for six weeks to provide Canadian nursing students with a field school opportunity, and at the same time, she actively lobbies the Namibian government and local leaders for increased support for the project. The Home of Good Hope is a not-for-profit organization registered both in Victoria and Namibia with a Board of Directors accountable to their respective governments. Strong links have been established with European partners who also provide valuable and welcome support. Under Eileen’s direction, The Home of Good Hope recently became registered with the government of Namibia as a HIV/AIDS organization. This was an important achievement as priority is given to these organizations. The Home of Good Hope carries out its work in a very small structure on borrowed land where the children basically squat on the roadside. It is difficult for Monica to cook sufficient food in her tiny poorly equipped kitchen and then transport it by local taxi to the site where the children are fed, hence the current goal is to purchase land and then build a permanent structure with a spacious kitchen, two large classrooms and living quarters for Monica. The soup kitchen currently provides educational opportunities as well as nutritious meals. It is the hope that educating the children will help to lift this community out of poverty. For nursing students coming to Namibia from abroad for a field school experience, the education is aimed at promoting knowledge of and sensitivity to foreign cultures and their political, social and national environments. In so doing, students continue to develop their health assessment and evaluation skills while improving the mental and physical well-being of the children. As the nursing students play with, feed and guide the children, they practise their understanding of the World Health Organization’s Millennium Development Goals. They learn to work with very limited resources, language barriers and poor patient prognoses as they develop a higher level of critical analysis and questioning, and a deeper understanding of the meaning of ‘human rights’. Eileen is self-effacing and humble about her involvement; for her, it is all about the children. She is awaiting permission for the charitable organization in Canada to buy land in Katutura to build a new Home of Good Hope. Her current dream is eventually to make The Home of Good Hope self-sustaining with much of the ongoing volunteer work being done by individuals who have benefitted from its presence.
Citation for William Pooley Will Pooley was the first British nurse to contract Ebola. He had always wanted to work in Africa and thus went to Sierra Leone in 2014 with a small, local non-governmental organization (NGO), The Shepherd’s Hospice, having just completed the Diploma in Tropical Nursing. He went there with very little support to help strengthen palliative care services. He lived in difficult conditions and showed a great deal of determination and compassion in taking on this role as the only international volunteer. When he heard about the terrible situation with Ebola at Kenema Hospital in the summer of 2014, he travelled there on his own and volunteered at the Ebola Isolation Unit at Kenema Government Hospital in the east of Sierra Leone. He worked with a team of Sierra Leonean staff, many of whom also became infected and over 30 of whom died. Kenema was one of the worst affected districts in the early stages of the outbreak. The small team of nurses who were working on the ward was doing so under extraordinarily difficult conditions. They and the local cleaning staff – who do all the dirty and dangerous work – carried on tirelessly and often faced enormous personal sacrifice. Many were stigmatized for working with Ebola patients and were thrown out of their homes. They are doing a job that other people would refuse to do, but which has helped to save hundreds of lives and protect hundreds more from the disease.
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
Human Rights and Nursing Awards
403
Will contracted Ebola six weeks after starting to work at Kenema. He was flown out of Sierra Leone and treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London where he made a complete recovery. He returned to Freetown to continue his work on the Ebola response, this time at Connaught Hospital in Freetown. It is this act of courage that brought Will to prominence: he embodied the criteria for this Award ‘to be presented to any nurse in recognition of an outstanding commitment to human rights and exemplifying the essence of nursing’s philosophy of humanity’. Will is not only an Ebola nurse but now an Ebola survivor. His immunity allows him to do his job with a lesser degree of risk and gives him a unique empathy towards patients. Several of his Sierra Leonean colleagues have had the same experience, whereby they have contracted Ebola, then returned to work on the wards after recovering. These people are unparalleled in their courage and commitment to end this disease. While much international media coverage is focused on the international response, it is the Sierra Leonean staff who are at the heart of the ongoing efforts to end Ebola. Collectively, they represent an extraordinary group of heroes who are the absolute exemplars of the very best of the nursing profession, due to their enduring professionalism, compassion, tireless working, sacrifice and humility. Will is the ‘face’ of Ebola for many people in Britain, but the colleagues who have supported his Award were keen to stress that the whole team at Connaught Hospital should be acknowledged and honoured, with Will collecting the Award on their behalf.
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
Citations for the Human Rights and Nursing Awards 2015
Nursing Ethics 2015, Vol. 22(4) 401–403 ª The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav 10.1177/0969733015585404 nej.sagepub.com
The International Care Ethics Observatory is pleased to announce that on 17 July 2015, the Human Rights and Nursing Awards will be given at a short ceremony at the University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. The Awards will be presented during the conference organized by the International Care Ethics Observatory in conjunction with Nursing Ethics.
Citation for Eileen Greene Eileen is currently a nursing teacher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia (BC), Canada. In 2004, she accompanied an international team, including an AIDS research specialist, to Namibia, Africa, where she observed first-hand the AIDS crisis and the challenges the country was facing in its wake. In 2007, Eileen led her first group of Camosun College Nursing students from Victoria, BC, Canada, to Namibia for an intercultural experience and the opportunity to work in a 850-bed inner-city hospital. Working at the Katutura Hospital in Windhoek, Namibia, both inspired and discouraged her. Eileen met Maria there, a 16-year-old girl afflicted by AIDS, and her mother Monica. Together they struggled to care for Maria who tragically died from a disease, which may have been prevented by education. In Maria’s memory, Eileen and Monica started The Home of Good Hope, a ‘soup kitchen’ targeting children in the impoverished black community in the township of Katutura. The people there live in shantytown
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
402
Nursing Ethics 22(4)
homes with few amenities such as running water, electricity, and toilets. At its inception in 2007, the soup kitchen fed approximately 40 children; today, 535 children depend on The Home of Good Hope to fulfil much of their basic requirements for survival. Eileen remains the project manager, working back in Victoria, BC, Canada, to raise funds and attract donors. She has travelled to Namibia every year for six weeks to provide Canadian nursing students with a field school opportunity, and at the same time, she actively lobbies the Namibian government and local leaders for increased support for the project. The Home of Good Hope is a not-for-profit organization registered both in Victoria and Namibia with a Board of Directors accountable to their respective governments. Strong links have been established with European partners who also provide valuable and welcome support. Under Eileen’s direction, The Home of Good Hope recently became registered with the government of Namibia as a HIV/AIDS organization. This was an important achievement as priority is given to these organizations. The Home of Good Hope carries out its work in a very small structure on borrowed land where the children basically squat on the roadside. It is difficult for Monica to cook sufficient food in her tiny poorly equipped kitchen and then transport it by local taxi to the site where the children are fed, hence the current goal is to purchase land and then build a permanent structure with a spacious kitchen, two large classrooms and living quarters for Monica. The soup kitchen currently provides educational opportunities as well as nutritious meals. It is the hope that educating the children will help to lift this community out of poverty. For nursing students coming to Namibia from abroad for a field school experience, the education is aimed at promoting knowledge of and sensitivity to foreign cultures and their political, social and national environments. In so doing, students continue to develop their health assessment and evaluation skills while improving the mental and physical well-being of the children. As the nursing students play with, feed and guide the children, they practise their understanding of the World Health Organization’s Millennium Development Goals. They learn to work with very limited resources, language barriers and poor patient prognoses as they develop a higher level of critical analysis and questioning, and a deeper understanding of the meaning of ‘human rights’. Eileen is self-effacing and humble about her involvement; for her, it is all about the children. She is awaiting permission for the charitable organization in Canada to buy land in Katutura to build a new Home of Good Hope. Her current dream is eventually to make The Home of Good Hope self-sustaining with much of the ongoing volunteer work being done by individuals who have benefitted from its presence.
Citation for William Pooley Will Pooley was the first British nurse to contract Ebola. He had always wanted to work in Africa and thus went to Sierra Leone in 2014 with a small, local non-governmental organization (NGO), The Shepherd’s Hospice, having just completed the Diploma in Tropical Nursing. He went there with very little support to help strengthen palliative care services. He lived in difficult conditions and showed a great deal of determination and compassion in taking on this role as the only international volunteer. When he heard about the terrible situation with Ebola at Kenema Hospital in the summer of 2014, he travelled there on his own and volunteered at the Ebola Isolation Unit at Kenema Government Hospital in the east of Sierra Leone. He worked with a team of Sierra Leonean staff, many of whom also became infected and over 30 of whom died. Kenema was one of the worst affected districts in the early stages of the outbreak. The small team of nurses who were working on the ward was doing so under extraordinarily difficult conditions. They and the local cleaning staff – who do all the dirty and dangerous work – carried on tirelessly and often faced enormous personal sacrifice. Many were stigmatized for working with Ebola patients and were thrown out of their homes. They are doing a job that other people would refuse to do, but which has helped to save hundreds of lives and protect hundreds more from the disease.
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
Human Rights and Nursing Awards
403
Will contracted Ebola six weeks after starting to work at Kenema. He was flown out of Sierra Leone and treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London where he made a complete recovery. He returned to Freetown to continue his work on the Ebola response, this time at Connaught Hospital in Freetown. It is this act of courage that brought Will to prominence: he embodied the criteria for this Award ‘to be presented to any nurse in recognition of an outstanding commitment to human rights and exemplifying the essence of nursing’s philosophy of humanity’. Will is not only an Ebola nurse but now an Ebola survivor. His immunity allows him to do his job with a lesser degree of risk and gives him a unique empathy towards patients. Several of his Sierra Leonean colleagues have had the same experience, whereby they have contracted Ebola, then returned to work on the wards after recovering. These people are unparalleled in their courage and commitment to end this disease. While much international media coverage is focused on the international response, it is the Sierra Leonean staff who are at the heart of the ongoing efforts to end Ebola. Collectively, they represent an extraordinary group of heroes who are the absolute exemplars of the very best of the nursing profession, due to their enduring professionalism, compassion, tireless working, sacrifice and humility. Will is the ‘face’ of Ebola for many people in Britain, but the colleagues who have supported his Award were keen to stress that the whole team at Connaught Hospital should be acknowledged and honoured, with Will collecting the Award on their behalf.
Downloaded from nej.sagepub.com at CHINESE CULTURE UNIV on November 14, 2015
