Overseas Volunteers / Intrepid nurse learned to see through the eyes of local people
© MSF
Terumi Yoshida, left, wears protective gear at an Ebola treatment center in Kailahun, Sierra Leone.
Hiromu Namiki / Japan News Staff Writer Terumi Yoshida, a Doctors Without Borders nurse who was dispatched to Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone last year, worked for the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers about 20 years ago.
“There, I learned the importance of thinking on the same wavelength as local people,” said Yoshida, 44.
Yoshida, whose mother was a nurse, decided as a high school student that she would follow her mother’s career footsteps. One day, she saw a TV program that showed the JOCV in action. “I instantly thought, ‘This is exactly what I want to do,’” she recalled.
After working at a Tokyo hospital for about five years, Yoshida applied to the JOCV program. In July 1997, she was dispatched to a national hospital on an island in Fiji, where she was assigned to the task of infection control.
Soon after, Yoshida was confronted with a lack of awareness on sanitation issues. Many local nurses were not in the habit of washing their hands regularly, as they came from villages with no running water.
Yoshida’s efforts to raise the nurses’ awareness were in vain. “Sometimes I’d get reactions like, ‘What on earth is this young Japanese girl talking about?’”
However, Yoshida did not give up. She made efforts to communicate with them as frequently as possible. Yoshida also changed her approach to persuading the nurses, preparing scientific data so that she could back up her claims with evidence.
One day, Yoshida discovered that single-use sanitation kits were being reused with different patients. As she thought about how to make the local staff understand the danger of such lax protocols, an idea suddenly came to her. She brought out a glass of water and a bottle of ink, then poured the ink into the water. As the staff watched the ink spread, Yoshida explained, “This is what happens once bacteria infiltrates antiseptic solution: All of the liquid becomes contaminated.”
The practice of reusing single-use sanitation kits came to an immediate end.
Yoshida’s assignment ended in September 1999. She went back to Japan and worked there, but retained a wish of someday working on international programs again.
One day, she browsed the website of Doctors Without Borders. The organization’s “principle of being impartial and neutral, as well as its spirit of voluntarism” resonated with her, and she submitted an application.
After undertaking missions in South Sudan and Pakistan, Yoshida was dispatched to Sierra Leone from June to October last year to take part in efforts to fight Ebola.
In Sierra Leone, Yoshida worked at a facility based in a tent. Even as the temperature occasionally rose to 35 C, there were no air conditioners. She was required to wear full-body protective gear to perform such tasks as administering intravenous drips, taking blood samples and helping patients eat meals.
Operations in the tent were so physically draining that medical aid workers were restricted to one-hour shifts with mandatory breaks in between.
There was an incessant stream of incoming patients. But with no effective drugs to fight Ebola, success or failure was ultimately up to the patients’ powers of recovery.
Yoshida saw many heartbreaking cases, such as family members dying one by one, leaving behind only one girl. Sometimes she was seized by a sense of helplessness, Yoshida said.
At the same time, Yoshida was inspired by the dedication of the local staff who were determined to overcome Ebola and help the nation rebound. “Instead of me encouraging them, I was encouraged by their attitude,” Yoshida explained.
Yoshida hopes to continue working around the world out of a sense of duty to help those who lack water and food, a conviction she fostered through her formative experiences with the JOCV.
“Two years and three months sounds short, but it was actually a long time,” Yoshida said, looking back on her volunteer days in Fiji. “I had the valuable experience of learning to assimilate with the local people.”
Overseas Volunteers / Intrepid nurse learned to see through the eyes of local people - The Japan News
© MSF
Terumi Yoshida, left, wears protective gear at an Ebola treatment center in Kailahun, Sierra Leone.
Hiromu Namiki / Japan News Staff Writer Terumi Yoshida, a Doctors Without Borders nurse who was dispatched to Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone last year, worked for the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers about 20 years ago.
“There, I learned the importance of thinking on the same wavelength as local people,” said Yoshida, 44.
Yoshida, whose mother was a nurse, decided as a high school student that she would follow her mother’s career footsteps. One day, she saw a TV program that showed the JOCV in action. “I instantly thought, ‘This is exactly what I want to do,’” she recalled.
After working at a Tokyo hospital for about five years, Yoshida applied to the JOCV program. In July 1997, she was dispatched to a national hospital on an island in Fiji, where she was assigned to the task of infection control.
Soon after, Yoshida was confronted with a lack of awareness on sanitation issues. Many local nurses were not in the habit of washing their hands regularly, as they came from villages with no running water.
Yoshida’s efforts to raise the nurses’ awareness were in vain. “Sometimes I’d get reactions like, ‘What on earth is this young Japanese girl talking about?’”
However, Yoshida did not give up. She made efforts to communicate with them as frequently as possible. Yoshida also changed her approach to persuading the nurses, preparing scientific data so that she could back up her claims with evidence.
One day, Yoshida discovered that single-use sanitation kits were being reused with different patients. As she thought about how to make the local staff understand the danger of such lax protocols, an idea suddenly came to her. She brought out a glass of water and a bottle of ink, then poured the ink into the water. As the staff watched the ink spread, Yoshida explained, “This is what happens once bacteria infiltrates antiseptic solution: All of the liquid becomes contaminated.”
The practice of reusing single-use sanitation kits came to an immediate end.
Yoshida’s assignment ended in September 1999. She went back to Japan and worked there, but retained a wish of someday working on international programs again.
One day, she browsed the website of Doctors Without Borders. The organization’s “principle of being impartial and neutral, as well as its spirit of voluntarism” resonated with her, and she submitted an application.
After undertaking missions in South Sudan and Pakistan, Yoshida was dispatched to Sierra Leone from June to October last year to take part in efforts to fight Ebola.
In Sierra Leone, Yoshida worked at a facility based in a tent. Even as the temperature occasionally rose to 35 C, there were no air conditioners. She was required to wear full-body protective gear to perform such tasks as administering intravenous drips, taking blood samples and helping patients eat meals.
Operations in the tent were so physically draining that medical aid workers were restricted to one-hour shifts with mandatory breaks in between.
There was an incessant stream of incoming patients. But with no effective drugs to fight Ebola, success or failure was ultimately up to the patients’ powers of recovery.
Yoshida saw many heartbreaking cases, such as family members dying one by one, leaving behind only one girl. Sometimes she was seized by a sense of helplessness, Yoshida said.
At the same time, Yoshida was inspired by the dedication of the local staff who were determined to overcome Ebola and help the nation rebound. “Instead of me encouraging them, I was encouraged by their attitude,” Yoshida explained.
Yoshida hopes to continue working around the world out of a sense of duty to help those who lack water and food, a conviction she fostered through her formative experiences with the JOCV.
“Two years and three months sounds short, but it was actually a long time,” Yoshida said, looking back on her volunteer days in Fiji. “I had the valuable experience of learning to assimilate with the local people.”
Overseas Volunteers / Intrepid nurse learned to see through the eyes of local people - The Japan News
