Christabeth’s passion to save lives

By GLORIA BAUAI
Unlike many, Christabeth Garap was fortunate to be born into a family with many doctors.
Her father’s siblings – John, Joseph and Jambi – are all medical doctors in various areas such as ear, nose and throat, cancer and eye.
So the 25-year-old was effortlessly attracted into the health profession from the beginning.
“I grew up seeing them as role models, which motivated me towards the health profession.”
Christabeth’s parents are from Morobe and Chimbu.
She is the youngest in a family of three. Her elder siblings are brother Supiak Jnr Garap and sister Vivian Garap.
When she was young, she used to get a lot of advice from her late grandmother.
“She had a caring attitude towards people and she would mentor me occasionally.”
That mentoring more than anything else sealed the deal, so to speak, for Christabeth to join the health fraternity, in particular, to become a nurse.
“Considering this, I saw that there is a blessing behind this profession. Not because of the money but just spending time with a sick person makes one feel blessed one way or the other. It was why I chose nursing.”
Christabeth was offered an AusAid scholarship to enroll at the Lae Nursing College in 2017. However, she flunked her Pharmacology course and lost the scholarship.
She reapplied again with a determination to pass, and she did so with flying colors last year, taking out the “outstanding clinical nurse” of the year award.
The seven-week practicum she spent at a rural hospital in Morobe reaffirmed her passion for the profession.
“While in Bulolo, I saw many cases which I didn’t see while working at the Angau Memorial Hospital.
“The common cases there were knife wounds and woman with birth complications.
“I saw that saving lives mostly in rural areas is very important and this reaffirmed my interest in the profession.”
She thanks the people in her life who reassured her of her career choice such as the health extension officer in Bulolo who allowed her to assist with a placenta removal.

“ Just spending time with a sick person makes one feel blessed one way or the other. It was why I chose nursing.”

“The nursing officer on the ground was unsuccessful so I assisted the health officer with a successful and complete placenta removal procedure without any bleeding. That was my first medical big experience.”
Christabeth believes that nursing has changed her life.
“Spending time with patients also built up my confidence. I can now also stand in public and speak.”
The opportunity to serve sick people is a gift she is eternally grateful for.
“I’m so grateful to my sponsors: my dad’s family who took care of my education expense, especially my dad’s younger sister Samariti Garap who took it upon herself to pay for my education when my mum and dad were in a bad place. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.”
Now armed with the knowledge and skills to pursue the career she wants, Christabeth hopes to start work as soon as possible so that she can make use of what she had learnt.
The founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale, widely referred to as The Lady with a Lamp once said: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this: devoted and obedient.”
Nurse Christabeth is just starting on that journey.