Marie-Antoinette, nurse in Senegal: "After Ebola, I was ready"

The nurse Marie-Antoinette Vierra Mané in front of the geriatrics unit of the Fann National University Hospital Center, in Dakar, transformed into a unit for the care of patients with Covid-19, in Dakar on May 4, 2020 RFI / Manon Laplace

Text by: Manon Laplace

Nurses are on the front line facing the coronavirus. From Europe to America via Africa and the Middle East, RFI gives them a voice. At 44, including thirteen in intensive care, Marie-Antoinette Vierra Mané is a nurse at the Fann hospital in Dakar. Since March 2, she has been mobilized to care for patients with Covid-19.

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Put on his rubber boots, carefully adjust the mask over the nose, glove his thin fingers, and style his hair with a blue cap. Seven days a week, for more than two months, it is the same ritual for Marie Antoinette Vieraa Mané. After eighteen years of service at the Fann hospital in Dakar, including thirteen spent in intensive care in the infectious diseases department, the Senegalese woman is one of the four "permanent staff" at the bedside of patients suffering from Covid-19.

If she admits that in the morning "  the body is a little heavy  " before arriving at the hospital at 7 am, and that "  the fatigue is enormous  " when she comes home in the evening, nothing seems to be able to affect morale and smile hidden behind the mask of the 44-year-old nurse. Tireless, Marie-Antoinette is aware of being "  on the front line, in a kind of war  ", but she is a modest soldier: "  I cannot say that I am particularly proud, what we do, we nurses, someone has to do it . "

"  Some experience of epidemics and intense work  "

A sense of duty that she puts on each morning with her blouse and that keeps her going through her long days of work, which stretched until 10 p.m. when the epidemic arrived in early March, before being slightly shortened recently, since the arrival in reinforcement of new teams. It must be said that the forties has "  some experience of epidemics and intense work  ". In November 2014 and until March 2015, she was sent to Guinea, to lend a hand to the neighboring country in its response to the bloody Ebola. It was a very hard experience, but also a very beautiful one,  " she says. An experience that prepared her to face it today: "After Ebola, I was not surprised to be called to help care for patients with coronavirus, I was ready".

When asked if she is afraid of getting the disease, a calm smile appears on Marie-Antoinette's face. "I am comfortable, a patient with Covid-19 is a patient like the others, being in contact with them does not scare me  ". What about the difficulty of the task, intense schedules? After thirteen years in intensive care, I'm used to it  ." As for the fear of bringing the disease home to her husband, her seven-year-old daughter and her four-year-old baby boy? She responds by offering a detailed visit to the hygiene protocol implemented in the unit. Nothing is left to chance, I trust the protections we have, we lack nothing,  " she reassures. Marie-Antoinette is a rock. When she is at work, the caregiver has her head at work and nowhere else. I who are there to help, I cannot let my mind be distracted by the potential risks to my family. When I am in the hospital, I am a nurse, I administer the treatments, serve the food and make sure that the sick do not miss anything  ”.

Reassure and restore confidence

Through the 21 rooms that make up the two units it covers, the nurse makes sure that the patients are not lacking in anything,  I especially try to reassure them, to restore their confidence ", faced with this new disease " which can be scary, explains the one who readily admits having to sometimes“  scold the patients who exaggerate  ”. Beyond the medical, Marie-Antoine is aware that she and her peers are the only benchmarks for hospitalized patients. They do not receive visits, there are no accompanying people, so we are the people they see the most, our role alongside them goes beyond the medical  ." A support role that she also takes on within the teams. “  Those for whom it was the first management of an epidemic could be stressed at first, but the experience of the elders reassures them . "Behind the heavy door that separates the caregivers from the corridor where the patients are hospitalized, the coronavirus does not seem to have been right in the good mood of the caregivers:"  We talk about everything, we talk a little, the atmosphere is good  ”, as evidenced by the many bursts of laughter that emanate from the break room.

And that is undoubtedly what explains that Marie-Antoinette does not "  give herself the right to crack  ". No matter what, the tone remains cheerful, the voice, a little hoarse, is reassuring. In twenty minutes of conversation, Marie-Antoinette would be almost able to make you forget that the world is going through an unprecedented pandemic and that hospital services around the world are shaken. The patient ballet, she admits, "  it's the most difficult, when you have the satisfaction of bringing out a cured patient, but the room is immediately requisitioned for a newcomer  ." Every day, she "  prayed that a room would remain empty 24, or even 48 hours  ." It would be a sign of a slowdown of contagion in the country, which for the moment saw the number of contaminations more than quintupled between April and May. But it will take more than figures to alter the "  eternal optimism  " of the caregiver, who begins to dream of a lull within a month, "to be  able to declare victory and finally take a vacation to enjoy with the family  ". What if it takes a few more months? She "  will face, with philosophy  ", she is ready.

►Read also: Raheleh, nurse in Iran: “We say that death is close to us”

► To read also: Yasmine, nurse in the Paris region : " the hardest part is powerlessness in the face of families "

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