Celebrating the heroes who help the aged

When your grandmother isn’t given the care she needs, it will probably have an impact on you. For Lethabo Selowe, the nursing unit manager at Sandringham Gardens, it inspired her to become a nurse and work with the elderly.

Selowe works in the assisted living area. She started working for the Chevrah Kadisha in 2015, and has been a nurse for nine years.

“My grandmother was in a government hospital, and she wasn’t getting the care she needed. No one would feed or bathe her. So I had to go there and take part. And I realised I had a passion for nursing and helping other people.”

Selowe says it’s “a very challenging career, as I didn’t know what to expect”. But she also finds it enormously fulfilling. “When you care for people and it has an impact – that’s the best part. The worst part is dealing with difficult residents and their families.”

Selowe is just one of the 415 nurses and caregivers who work for the Chev looking after the elderly. Many of our elderly Jewish family members and friends live in one of the Chev’s residential facilities. Day and night, these nurses care for their every needs. They travel long distances, and work 12-hour shifts to do this crucial work.

Ahead of International Nurses Day on 12 May, Chev Chief Executive Saul Tomson told the SA Jewish Report, “Many of our residents are frail, disabled, and handicapped, mentally or physically. On this special day, we pay tribute to our nurses and carers who are doing the most demanding work caring for them. Of our 1 000 staff members, 95% work with the living. The vast majority of the Chev’s work is centred on care, and recognising these heroes is so important.

“They wake up at the crack of dawn, travel long distances, and do very difficult work with smiles on their faces. Many residents rely heavily on these helpers for their everyday needs – from feeding them, getting them out of bed, to even changing a diaper. While we sleep at night, the nurses and carers stay awake and turn the residents in their sleep so they don’t get bedsores.”

Nurses and carers offer compassion and dignity to all residents, even those who might not have their full faculties and are sometimes aggressive as a result. Many of these nurses and carers leave their own families – including elderly parents – to do this work. During the pandemic, the community and residents’ families haven’t been able to visit and in turn, witness this important work. In addition, residents haven’t seen their families for more than a year, so nurses and carers have had to fill that gap.

“You build up a relationship with residents, so it’s very hard when someone passes away,” Selowe says. “You feel confused – lots of big emotions. If you’re not expecting it, it can just break you.” She says the pandemic has been challenging, but they are so used to wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) now “that it’s part of our bodies. Even after COVID-19, we will carry on wearing it because we are so used to it.”

To those thinking of going into nursing as a career, she says, “It’s important to be patient and to want to serve, give, and care.” She believes nurses and carers should be celebrated because of their “hard work and dedication to the world. Working at the Chev is an honour and a privilege. It’s wonderful being part of a dedicated and devoted organisation.”

Siphiwe Nxumalo, a caregiver at Sandringham Gardens, has been a nurse for two years and at the Chev for nine months. “It’s very special, and I’ve learned a lot about the Jewish culture. I feel lucky to be working here. They take care of us in so many ways.”

Like Selowe, Nxumalo was motivated to do the work by personal experience. “I had a baby in 2017, and my care wasn’t pleasing. It wasn’t the care that I was supposed to get, and I had complications. That motivated me. I wanted to be a better nurse than that.”

For her, the best part of the work is when “you’re caring for a resident, and they get well and get back to normal life. Losing someone is hard, especially because we build strong relationships. They are part of our family as we spend most of our time at work. So it’s really tough when you get in and hear bad news.”

She says residents “really their miss their families. There is a void, and we have to play that role – like a granddaughter or a friend. When the pandemic hit, many companies shut down, but nurses and carers remained on duty, risking their lives and making sure that every person was taken care of. When COVID-19 first arrived, I was worried, but then I saw the level of infection control, and now I feel safe.”

She recommends going into nursing “only if you have a passion and you like to care and serve. Otherwise you won’t survive.” She wants to thank the Chev for the fact that its nurses and carers are “always appreciated. I still have my job, and I’m happy to serve the residents.”

Sandringham Gardens resident Nina Aschman told the SA Jewish Report that “I don’t regard them only as carers, but also good friends. They always arrive with a smile, they are loving and caring, and they’re always happy to be here.”

She says they have to deal with situations like residents refusing to wear masks. “It’s an ongoing battle, and it’s not easy, but they always manage. When COVID-19 arrived, they had to adapt overnight, but they did it. I want the community to know that they do this with unfailing love and kindness, and for everyone to acknowledge just how hard they work.”

Last week, the Chev vaccinated all their medical personnel, nurses, carers, and support staff. “We spent months educating them about the importance of the vaccine in our unique environment. It was part of the vaccine rollout for healthcare workers, and we are proud to have vaccinated 1 027 staff. They all have a lot of contact with residents and in spite of any personal concerns, they all agreed – it’s phenomenal,” said Tomson.