Nurse wins Healthcare Humanity Award for work overseas

As an emergency department nurse, she has to deal with seriously injured accident victims and those needing urgent attention, like cardiac arrest patients.

Split-second decisions which determine life and death must be made.

Madam Nur Jelita Remie, 34, is on her feet the whole day, working long hours with hardly a break.

It is challenging work for the senior staff nurse with the Emergency Medicine Department at the National University Hospital (NUH).

"We have to remain calm during tense situations and offer comfort to patients who are experiencing symptoms of shock," she said.

You may think that someone in that field - who works three rotating shifts - would look forward to a relaxing beach holiday.

Instead, Madam Nur Jelita prefers volunteering on overseas trips. She has been doing so for five years now.

Her selflessness and dedication in helping others won her a Healthcare Humanity award last month.

First given out in 2004, the awards are disbursed from the Courage Fund that was set up by the National Healthcare Group, Singapore Health Services, Singapore Medical Association, Singapore Nurses Association and Singapore Press Holdings.

Madam Nur Jelita was among 76 receiving the annual honour, given to extraordinary health-care workers.

She has always been keen to participate in overseas medical relief efforts.

So when she met locum physician at NUH, Dr Lim Koon Jin, who is also the managing partner of disaster relief organisation, Crisis Relief Singapore (CRS), she leapt at the opportunity.

Since 2009, she has gone on three mission trips with CRS to Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and Indonesia.

She also visited an orphanage in Vietnam with her friends in 2010.

Madam Nur Jelita helped to set up and run mobile clinics and build toilets in Indonesia last year.

On her first trip to Sri Lanka, she had to endure motion sickness in a six-seater minivan during the journey from the airport to Batticaloa, a major city in the Eastern Province.

She said: "I vomited throughout the four-hour drive. But when I saw the smiles of the beautiful people who came for aid, it was worth the trip."

Of her motivation, she says: "It is something I need to do for myself.

"It is like a time-off. Not an escape, but a time-off to recharge and help others."

SUPPORTIVE FAMILY

Her family members, including her auxiliary police husband, are very supportive, she said. She even thinks about the less privileged during her own break - during a holiday with her family last month, she made a trip to the orphanage in Vietnam she had visited previously.

She said: "The stopover was to offer clothes and monetary contribution from my family and friends back home."

She hopes her work with CRS will provide the opportunity to go to more extreme locations.

"I signed up as a medical volunteer with Singapore Red Cross and Mercy Relief to be activated in the event of disasters.

"They need experienced nurses who have assisted in medical relief efforts. CRS provides such an exposure," she said.

Madam Nur Jelita also nurses her nephew, 7, who has been suffering from leukaemia for two years and looks after her ailing elderly parents-in-law.

She said: "I've never thought I would stay so long in my nursing journey and I've just signed a bond with NUH for a degree programme."

She will start school in September for her Bachelor of Science with Honours in nursing practice.

But this does not mean she is going to be any less active.

"I'm looking forward to going on more mission trips during my school holidays," she said.

This article was first published on June 3, 2014.
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