As a little girl growing up in Busia County, Lucy Akoth Makhulo knew she wanted to be a nurse. A natural empath, she was drawn to helping others and serving the community. In addition, her maternal aunt was also a nurse. It was, therefore, no surprise that after high school Lucy applied and was accepted for a Nursing Certificate course at Nakuru Medical Training College.
“After the training, I secured a job at Coast General Hospital where I worked for 11 years,” she says. “I’m currently in my 10th year at Moi County Referral Hospital, my second place of work.”
Lucy has a warm, welcoming nature, and as she strolls through the hospital’s corridors she stops to exchange greetings with both patients and colleagues.
“Having worked here for so long, the people know me. When I’m walking in the town, I often come across former patients who call me by name and update me on their health. It’s humbling to know that I have impacted their lives positively,” she says.
For a long time, Lucy had wanted to upgrade from an Enrolled Nurse to a Registered Nurse. She felt the additional skills would greatly improve the quality of service she gave to patients, boost her confidence and even secure her a promotion at work.
“Being just an Enrolled Nurse, I didn’t always feel at par with my colleagues,” she confides. “The certificate course training I received at Nakuru Medical Training College was rather basic. I used to apply to different colleges for a diploma course but for some reason, I was never accepted. My dream came true when I was accepted for the Aga Khan University’s diploma course in 2012.”
As a mother of three, Lucy was particularly grateful for the scholarship from the Lundin Foundation that covered 75% of her tuition fees.
“The grant enabled me to complete my studies without struggling financially. And since the financial part was covered, it was easier to concentrate on the training. The schedule was also easy to manage. We would go to Kaloleni for a week or two, after which we would go back to our families and resume work,” she says.
Her typical duties include attending to pregnant women, helping with both normal and caesarean births, and she praises the training at AKU-SONAM for upgrading her knowledge and boosting her confidence, “Nowadays, most patients want to know exactly why they are getting a certain test or treatment. Thanks to my training, I’m able to confidently explain this to them. I can also competently discuss with my colleagues which course of treatment I think is best for a patient.”
Nurses and Midwives - Leaders in Healthcare in East Africa story series reflect the depth and diversity of the nursing and midwifery profession in East Africa.
Finding, capturing and documenting these stories was a collective effort of many individuals and institutions. At the very beginning were the investments made by the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW), the Lund Family and Rotary International that brought the nursing and midwifery training programme to life.
These partners provided scholarships, support for programme development and faculty investments that were pivotal in enabling the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery (AKU-SONAM) to recruit a diverse set of students and build innovative, pragmatic academic programmes.
We hope that these stories will continue to inspire, challenge and show the power of nurses and midwives for years to come.
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