In the emergency department of the UK-Med field hospital in Gaza, a tall nurse in red scrubs navigates the room with clinical efficiency. It’s busy, and she tends to multiple patients in minutes. Swabbing a child’s bleeding headwound, before she checks over a small baby, reassuring the mother until a doctor arrives. When he does, she wheels a cardiac monitor to an older gentleman with chest pain, explaining what she is doing before fitting the monitor to his body.
“My colleagues jokingly call me ‘The Hyperactive Nurse’ because I am always rushing around, but I love my job. I like working hard”
This is small vignette into the work Eman undertakes during her duties as an emergency department nurse at the field hospital in Al Mawasi, southern Gaza Strip. Despite the recent ceasefire agreement, UK-Med‘s local and international staff have their work cut out seeing hundreds of patients a day. The need for medical care hasn’t stopped — and Eman is not stopping either.
Since the UK-Med hospital opened, she has worked relentlessly and explained she will stay for as long as needed. Before the current conflict, Eman says life was pretty good, she used to work hard as a nurse in Nasser Hospital’s Emergency Department, but also had fun with family and friends.
Now, every aspect of her life is impacted:
“It has torn my family apart. I lost my brother, many friends and colleagues too” Eman says, with the stoic look of someone who has seen too much grief. It is incredible that she dedicates herself to work under these circumstances, all with a smile on her face:
“I believe in the power of smiling and the power of being positive”
Eman is just one of the many highly talented and hard-working staff who have seen so much tragedy, yet still turn up to work each day to save lives. Many have been displaced from their homes and families multiple times, lost loved ones and family members, and all have borne the horrific consequences of conflict.
Eman, like others, hopes for continued peace and the chance to continue her studies. She has enjoyed working with UK-Med and, with her trademark effervescent smile, she says she wants to work internationally with UK-Med — helping with emergencies in other parts of the world.
