Some patients at the Bandoh and Tamakloe Hall of the 37 Military Hospital in Accra were filled with gratitude on Christmas Eve after receiving assorted food, drinks and money from a Senior Nursing Officer.
The token money is expected to help in the payment of their medical bills, while the food was to enable them also partake in the Christmas festivities since they were incapable of going out with friends and family to have fun due to their ailments.
Madam Elizabeth Boateng, a Senior Nursing Officer at the hospital, was the brain behind the initiative.
She, however, got monetary and food support from Oyster Catering Services, as well as the 2002 Old Students of De Youngsters International School.
Speaking to The Chronicle on the initiative, Madam Boateng, who calls herself a “Nurse with a Change,” said that the nursing profession teaches one to be a patient advocate in so many ways, and that was the reason for her initiative.
She also noted that she does not want to be an ordinary nurse, but a “Nurse with a Change,” hence the initiative.
“As nurses, it is part of our principle to be patient advocates. A patient advocate is not only medically; it has to be psychologically, spiritually, everything. As part of being a patient advocate and my policy to be a “Nurse with a Change,” so I decided to celebrate Christmas with my patients,” Madam Elizabeth said.
Aside the aforementioned reasons, Madam Elizabeth also indicated that the patients she takes care of were those with conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Acute Abdominal Disease, Kidney, Cancer, and Stroke.
She noted that these diseases were very delicate and come with a lot of expenses, hence, the initiative to help defray some of the cost of the medicines.
She said she would make the initiative a regular one, and raise funds in order to support a lot of patients.
She called on her colleague nurses to emulate her example, and also try and put smiles on the faces of their patients in any way they could, and not wait for people outside to come and do so.
She also called on Ghanaians who wished to support the initiative to reach out.
Telling The Chronicle about why her outfit decided to support the initiative, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Oyster Catering Services, Madam Thelma Thompson, said that giving to people on the street or any part of the country was part of her organisation’s yearly Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“As part of our CSR, we usually do these kinds of charity work. We give to people on the street,” she stated.
She said that Oyster Foods, a food company which usually feeds corporate institutions, including financial institutions, was concerned about the poor and needy in society, hence, the decision to always reach out to them with support.
She indicated that in doing so, the outfit also partners charity organisations, and that was how come they were able to support Madam Elizabeth to put smiles on the faces of some of the patient at the 37 Military Hospital.
