Life Fourways Hospital’s emergency care and trauma doctor a well-known face in the community
Fourways Review chats to Dr Jenny Frankel for this month’s Bold and Brave segment where she discusses her inspirations and passion for the medical field.
Life Fourways Hospital’s trauma unit was in the spotlight recently as they celebrated World Trauma Day. One of their own has been at the hospital since its inception and shares her story of being in the trauma unit.
Dr Jenny Frankel has been at Life Fourways Hospital has been at the hospital since the hospital opened its doors. The Emergency Centre and Frankel are approaching 17 years since being there. In the first month, close to 174 patients were seen, and now are servicing over 2 000 patients a month in the department.
Frankel began her career by following the suggestions of a teacher when she was in Grade 12 and had dabbled with the idea of going into the accountancy or actuary fields.
“By the time I was finished I was torn between Emergency Medicine and Paediatrics. My passion started from riding in response cars and flying with Hems (health emergency management staff) services. By doing emergency medicine, I still got to see kids as patients but fulfil my need for adrenaline and variety. The other huge benefit of trauma, is I don’t make end-of-life decisions, switch off machines or watch families struggle through days. I do the best I can for each patient and then hand over care. I let the real doctors do the hard stuff,” she said.
A number of Frankel’s colleagues have labelled her as a stalwart in the community for her efforts in trauma care, but Frankel has kept a humble head at the compliments. “I really don’t see that, I think that I have been in the area for so long that it’s just a name that they recognise,” she said.
“Every compliment to me, our team or our unit makes me so proud. It is when my team treat me as one of them that I feel the biggest sense of achievement. We put a lot of ourselves into our shifts and I must say I love the patient following I have developed at my urgent care unit.”
The hospital had recently celebrated World Trauma Day, and Frankel was at the helm of assisting patients in trauma care. She gave a few tips to community members about the unit itself and why it is important for people to know about trauma care. “Please be patient with us, understand and appreciate triage. Emergency physicians don’t always have the bedside manner of a GP, especially when treating less urgent conditions in the emergency centre. These are people trained to help you with a heart attack, a stroke, a gunshot and so on. Please understand that the people who wait are in fact the luckiest, they have time on their hands unlike the ones fighting for their lives in the platinum 15 minutes or golden hour of life,” she said.
Within the field come days that are good, and days that are bad. In the trauma department, patients with urgent are not the only patients who are seen by the nurses and doctors, but also patients with chronic illnesses as told by the trauma unit manager, Sister Claudia Gunuza.
Chronic illnesses were at the forefront of issues for members of the community who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the earlier waves of the virus. It was widely publicised the efforts of those in the medical field undertook to help the sick.
Frankel talked about some of the difficulties in being in the trauma unit, namely dealing with Covid-19 patients. “I think treating our own families and teams is extremely tough. I find critically ill and injured children the hardest since becoming a mom. I battle more with the loss of dignity than the loss of life. It’s the little old lady who becomes incontinent that breaks my spirit,” she said.
“I can give you a day that sticks in my mind. It was during the Covid Delta wave when I had 13 patients waiting for any bed in any hospital and we were transferring all over the country. The hopelessness and helplessness of knowing that if even one deteriorated in my care, I could not escalate their care to the level we needed. I watched a man with end-stage cancer not survive the dreaded virus that day.”
Outside of being in emergency and trauma care, family is a core focus for Frankel when not in the hospital. “If I had to name an inspiration to me, I would probably have to say my parents, both of whom taught me the value of hard work, love and the meaning of family above all. My sons are the absolute light of my life! They are my reason. Anything I can do with them even if it go-cart racing or fishing, it’s my favourite time. I love to crochet, which is something my nurses taught me during Covid, reading, cooking and I have a super group of friends,” she concluded.
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