Reold Hlaraka: Health worker lives in fear of catching the virus

Before putting on his uniform to go and take care of the sick, Reold Hlaraka first says a little prayer, thanking God for waking up with no Covid-19 symptoms.

Hlaraka is one of many healthcare workers who put their lives at risk to assist during the global pandemic as he works as a nurse at Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.

The 28-year-old thrived working under pressure and being challenged, but as a young man who wished to care for people as his career, he never thought his job would cause anxiety due to fear of catching a fatal virus.

Raised by grandparents in Bochum, Limpopo, as his mother was working in Gauteng, he initially wanted to be a physiotherapist or an occupational therapist.

But he turned to nursing when he was not accepted for his first two choices, as he felt the profession would assist him in putting his younger brother through university. In 2011, he packed up and moved to Pretoria to study at the Ekufundeni Nursing School.

After completing his studies in 2014, he got his first job at Kalafong Hospital. Indeed, he faced the challenges. His first day in the orthopaedic ward saw only him and another nurse having to attend to 25 patients.

Kalafong Hospital nurse Reold Hlaraka says he initially didn’t believe the coronavirus would reach South Africa because he only heard about in on social media late last year from a friend who was living and teaching in China. Picture: Jacques Nelles

“Patients in the orthopaedic ward are in pain, so it was challenging. But as I said, I love challenges. All of our patients were helped and there were no complaints that day,” he told Saturday Citizen.

For Hlaraka, the coronavirus was a distant notion as he had first heard of it on social media late last year from a friend who was living and teaching in China.

He didn’t believe the virus would reach South Africa.

Speaking while on leave, he said anxiety and stress started to creep in after a patient at Kalafong was suspected of contracting the virus.

His colleagues would debate who would assist the suspected infected patient, he said.

“You start questioning if you are equipped enough. You know if you treat someone with TB and get it, you can be treated. But with this, there is no treatment. It was a debate about which nurse should go in and serve the patient. But we took a pledge, that we will take care of the sick.”

Aside from concerns of getting sick from the virus, Hlaraka’s main worry is bringing the virus home.

He is renting accommodation in Atteridgeville, where he lives with an elderly woman who suffers from asthma and hypertension.

“My family wanted me to come home to Limpopo,” he said. “As soon as they heard of a lockdown, they asked that I take leave and come home as they are scared for me. But I told them I am fine, though anxious, and I would not quit my job. They started to accept that this is what I do. They are just waiting to hear that everything is over so they can have me back home again.

“If China survived and many people recovered, then we can do it, too. But it would be encouraging to be updated about health workers in South Africa who have recovered.”

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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