Q: How did you decide to become a nurse?

HKT: Well, I decided to become a nurse to help my people, to help my country, Liberia. I started first as a nurse’s aide. I worked as a nursing aide for many years because there was no money for me to go to school. But then later, I started working at ELWA Hospital as a nurse’s aide, and then later on, I was offered a scholarship to go to nursing school, so I graduated and became a nurse.

Q: When did you actually see your first Ebola patient?

HKT: The first patient I saw was referred from Sierra Leone to our hospital. It was my first time seeing an Ebola patient. I was part of the first group that was trained to enter the Ebola Ttreatment Uunit.

Q: Can you walk me through what it was like working in the unit? Tell me what you did.

HKT: When we went in, we would stay over an hour. We had to serve medication, feed the patients, and sit and look at them before coming out. Some of them were very weak, and not able to feed themselves. We would clean them, take good care of them, change them, feed them, give them their medication, and then come out. I was the head for my shift.

Q: What was the process when you came out?

HKT: The hygienist would spray you with chlorine water before you could take off the clothes. Then, you started taking off what you had on bit by bit, step by step. You take off the apron. You put it down. You took off the first—we all have three pairs of gloves. It’s not just one pair. Then you take off the apron. They spray you again. You had to be careful taking off the PPE not to touch the ordinary scrub guys. You have to be very careful.

In serving medication, you have to be very careful, because of the needle, not to prick yourself, because some of the patients were combative. The patients might not want to take the medication because they are so down-hearted. You have to take your time, talk to them. Even if you’re giving them the food, they didn’t want to drink or to eat their food. So we would talk to them, encourage them, give them their medication. You can’t just take the medication and leave it.

Q: What happened when someone died?

HKT: It broke my heart. Because can you imagine? One time, when I entered the unit, a boy had his phone and his mother was calling him. He was lying on the bed, so helpless and weak. I saw that his mother was calling his phone, so I took the phone with my gloves to put it to his ear so he could listen to his mother. But then after five minutes, he passed out. Can you imagine? The mother called back. I had to tell her that her son had just died. It was not easy in there. It was terrible. I had close family that died in that Ebola unit.

Q: Tell me about your family—what did they think of you working in this treatment unit?

HKT: I told my husband, my mother, and my father, and they said “No. You’re not able to work in the Ebola unit.” They said it was dangerous to go in the unit. I said “well, I have to go there to work, because I’m not worried that you people will catch Ebola, but if any of my extended family catches Ebola, how will I help them if I’m not there?” I tried to educate them. I said “you won’t catch it, but I’m there to help other people that are in need of me, so let me risk my life to help my Liberian people.” I was there to encourage them. I encouraged my husband. I said, I’m a health worker. I took an oath, so I need to serve my people. I said the MSF [Doctors Without Borders] is calling me for my interview. Please allow me to do it. At last, they agreed to the MSF interview, and I passed, and I started working in the unit.

Q: Once Ebola was ending, what happened next with healthcare at your hospital?

HKT: As ELWA Hospital personnel, we are still doing it. Wash your hands. We take your temperature before you enter. We ask you a lot of questions. Do you have fever? Yes. How many days? You show us. We mark it. We do your temperature flash. We monitor the temperature, whether it’s very high. Are you bleeding? No. Are you breathing fast? No. Do you have diarrhea? We ask all these questions at ELWA. The process is still going on at ELWA hospital.

Q: Those are lessons that helped change how healthcare is given.

HKT: The healthcare system has improved greatly, because we are experienced from Ebola. But people are quick to forget. You know that most people right now, if they come to the hospital, and you tell them to wash their hands, they have a problem with it. They don’t want to wash their hands. We have to keep the health system going. We have to continue the hand hygiene because it’s for our own good health to wash our hands. It’s important. Keep your hands clean. But some people have a problem with it. They already have forgotten what Ebola did, you see? We still have to keep the health system going. We have to still encourage them for hand hygiene. It’s very important.

---

Helena K. Tarnue was interviewed for Frontline Nurses by Jennifer Dohrn on August 15, 2019 in Monrovia, Liberia.

---