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Sister Pretty Kgoadi runs a tight ship at Rosettenville Clinic, seamlessly moving from nursing duties to managerial functions. And after 26 years in the profession she hasn't lost her passion for keeping people healthy.
Sister Pretty Kgoadi, operational manager at Rosettenville Clinic
IT'S a usual wintry and overcast Friday morning at the Rosettenville Clinic, in Joburg's southern suburbs. The smell of fresh paint wafts across from renovations taking place on site.
The hordes of patients, both young and old, create a bustling environment. From the concourse, the ear-splitting cries of babies strapped to their mothers' backs reverberate through the clinic. Outside in the small flower garden, which is encircled by large indigenous trees, the wind picks up the scent of foliage; it immediately puts a lid on the babies' cries.
Such is a typical day at the clinic, run by Sister Pretty Kgoadi, its operational manager. Rosettenville Clinic is one of the biggest and busiest clinics in Region F, and it is estimated that more than 5 000 patients visit it every month.
It offers a full basket of health services, from antenatal care to family planning; from adult curative and chronic treatment with a doctor's support to mother and child health care; from reproductive health care to immunisation and growth monitoring. Treatment for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/Aids is on offer, as is treatment for sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. There is also cancer screening and diagnosis and voluntary HIV counselling and testing.
Having held a number of jobs at several provincial government health facilities for over two decades, Kgoadi is now dedicated to lending her knowledge to this clinic, and in the process, improving the quality of life of its patients.
Warmly dressed in a purple shirt and matching knee-length coat, Kgoadi's eyes sparkle with delight and her tongue articulates knowledge. Her spectacles drip down her eyes and her charcoal braids lie flat down her back. The tapping of her stiletto heels commands respect, and one can't help but notice her when she polices her employees.
Kgoadi's nursing career spans 26 years; she took up her position at the Rosettenville Clinic in 2005. The 50-year-old speaks broadly about youth development. "I want to pass all the skills I have to the young members of my staff, so that when they decide to pursue other posts within this profession, they will be fully equipped."
Resources
The City's department of health is fully geared towards improving the general health and wellbeing of its residents, including increasing their life expectancy. It envisages creating a city with a high quality, efficient, accessible and equitable health care system.
And Kgoadi is bringing this aim into her clinic too. Improving the quality of health services offered at the facility is top of her list of primary priorities. Encouraging her team to be more dedicated is of prime concern.
"I would like to see everybody perfect in what they specialise in, and be able to alternate from one speciality to another."
Kgoadi has a lot of passion for what she does; her qualifications are many, which she hopes to use when fulfilling her lifelong dream of running a college to boost nurses' skills. "I think that through the college I will be able to transfer the skills and knowledge that I have gained throughout my years ... in this profession."
Qualifications
Qualified as a professional nurse and midwife, Kgoadi has a degree in community health; an honours degree in advanced community nursing and primary health care, a diploma in pharmacology, another one in management, and a masters degree in human resource management, among other qualifications.
Her clinic runs several HIV/Aids campaigns, and works in partnership with commercial sex workers in the area. Each week a day is dedicated to a meeting with sex workers, who come in and get condoms and educational material; they also share their experiences of trauma.
In addition, the City has a specialised unit to support education drives about HIV/Aids, and home-based care programmes.
Its clinics offer child health care services, comprising polio and measles immunisation, growth, and monitoring of vitamin supplements; acute disease management, including polymerase chain reaction testing, a specialised type of testing for infectious and hereditary diseases; and the management of HIV and Aids in infants and young children.
The City's health department focuses on curbing new instances of sexually transmitted infections; HIV/Aids voluntary counselling and testing; and indispensable approaches to the management of HIV-related opportunistic infections like tuberculosis, bacterial pneumonia, and septicaemia, or blood poisoning, to mention but a few.
Mentor
Sister Nonhlahla Shongwe, a specialist primary health care nurse at Rosettenville Clinic and Kgoadi's protégé, speaks highly of her mentor. "She is everything a mother is, and can be accommodative both professionally and personally," Shongwe says.
Rosettenville Clinic is one of the biggest and busiest clinics in Region F
When she first started working at the clinic, she was a novice in the profession; however, through Kgoadi's mentorship and support, "I am now excellent at what I do.
"I have learned everything about primary health care, from HIV treatment to antenatal care and from family planning to pregnancy management. Basically, I have learned comprehensive health care, and I even have management skills," Shongwe explains.
Paper work
The flat-screen computer monitor on the left side of Kgoadi's desk is off, and is almost covered by the pile of papers and files that crowd around it. She says she has to go through all the paper work, "and verify if everything has been done properly".
Kgoadi draws her chair closer, leaning forward to speak about her calling to be a nurse. "Living a Christian life has taught me one lesson - to serve God's people to the fullest." And even after spending so many years in the profession, it still leaves her feeling immensely fulfilled. Nursing is still her purpose.
But her daily routine is not without its challenges - from dealing with patients to policing her staff. "Some of our patients come to the clinic late, verbally abuse my staff and still demand service. Some even use fake addresses and we can't trace them for follow up check ups. We also have a staff shortfall."
But she is up to the challenge. "You have to be flexible in this kind of a situation, and be very accommodating of all types of people."
Health care services
A raft of health services offered by the City's health department is available at the Rosettenville Clinic.
The department supports non-governmental organisations that provide home-based care for sick people, tuberculosis treatment, and health promotion campaigns at both schools and crèches. Dental and mental health care, and drug rehabilitation, among others, are available at its clinics.
The City has undertaken to improve its primary health care services and as part of this, five facilities, including OR Tambo Clinic in Region A, Thoko Mngoma and 4th Avenue clinics in Region E, and Parkhurst Methodist Church Clinic in Region B, are now open on Saturdays from 8am until 12pm.
"Everybody has to be involved in this quest. We have to strategically tailor this service to work better for the community that we serve," Kgoadi says.
Nobulali Ben attends the Rosettenville Clinic for antenatal care. She has lived in the suburb for over five years and says that even though staff members at the clinic have been reshuffled, her contentment with the services offered and the friendliness of the nurses hasn't altered a single bit.
"I visit the clinic mainly when I have 'flu, and presently I come for antenatal care," she confirms. Although a large number of people visit the clinic each day, Ben says everyone receives individual attention. "However, I think they should increase their facilities, so that everyone can be accommodated."
Rosettenville Clinic is on the corner of Rose and Mabel streets, Rosettenville, in the south of the city. It is open every weekday from 7.30am until 4pm. For more information about services available, contact Sister Pretty Kgoadi on 011 435 1045.
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