–Meet Nurse Dianna Bernard, one of the ‘front-liners’ taking the fight to COVID-19

By Naomi Parris

MANY children are known to look up to superheroes to rescue the meek and save the day from the chaos and dangers of the world.
However, for one seven-year-old girl, her superhero is her mother, Nurse Dianna Rose Bernard, who, like many other frontline workers, has been valiantly battling against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for the past few months.

In March of this year, Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case, and, like other countries the world over, it was not prepared for the anguish that came with the pandemic, as the country saw a rapid spread of the virus across its ten administrative regions.
However, it was the hinterland regions which bore the brunt of the impact of the deadly virus, with very little resources and manpower at hand to combat its spread in the various Indigenous communities.

During the course of the battle, it was the few frontline workers like Nurse Bernard who worked beyond the call of duty to slow the march of the virus, and save as many lives as they possibly could.

Nurse Bernard, who grew up in the Rupununi region, has been a Registered Nurse for some nine years now, and currently lives at St. Ignatius, a small village outside the township of Lethem, seat of administration of Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), way up in the hinterland, close to the border with our southernmost neighbour, Brazil.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Nurse Bernard, who primarily tends to COVID-19 patients at the Lethem Regional Hospital, noted that this virus has taught her a thing or two about making sacrifices, putting herself in the line of danger to care for those who have fallen prey to it.

Though just 31, she knows only too well what it means to put family first, as she talked openly about the agony of having to move away from her home and close relatives to protect them from contracting the virus.

MAKING HARD DECISIONS
“It was a very hard decision when I had to make up my mind to leave my home, and move in to the hospital compound, mainly to protect my daughter and my family; I had to leave my daughter with her grandparents,” she said.

Bernard noted that for the past few months, she has not been able to embrace her daughter in her arms, or even help her understand the realities of a pandemic.
The young nurse noted that it has even been harder, since her daughter now has to deal with home-schooling and Online classes, and she is not even around to assist her with what she may not understand in the new learning environment. “I haven’t had much time to help her with home-schooling,” she said. “And that is a disadvantage for her, since other parents get to home-school during the pandemic and I don’t.”
Bernard noted that her daughter has been somewhat understanding as to why her mother as to be away from her for the time being, and has been her biggest motivator during the pandemic, cheering her on to do her utmost to continue to save lives during the health crisis.
She said that whenever she has a little free time, she would visit and call her daughter as much as she can.

NO EASY FIGHT
Bernard noted that the fight has not been an easy one, as healthcare workers are still working under extreme pressure to combat the virus, and do everything in their power to limit its spread. She, however, noted that during this time she and her fellow workmates have managed to become more than just a group of nurses and doctors, but rather a family and a team of superheroes.
“The good thing is that we have become as family; the COVID-19 team members. We support each other in many ways, and we are working hard, and finally seeing a decline in number of cases,” Nurse Bernard said.
She noted that their work goes beyond the confines of the hospitals, as they have been doing everything in their power to educate persons about the virus and how they can protect themselves from contracting it.
“Some people just wasn’t adhering to precautionary measures and COVID-19 guidelines,” Nurse Bernard said. “They continue to have parties, and socializing. And that was a major cause for the rapid increase in our cases in the interior communities, so we had to walk with persons who speak their dialect, and help with educating the people,” she added.