Nurse Paula is pulling it off

By LULU MARK
HEALTH worker Paula Ivan knows how trying it can be to attend to sick people in rural areas.
Sick people and their guardians try to get to the nearest aid post or clinic early for a chance to be seen by the health workers. They wait for their names to be called.
Nurse Paula Ivan, 37, from Mendi in Southern Highlands knows that routine only too well.
“I wake up every day with a smile on my face and I am always happy. I just love my job as a health worker. I enjoy doing my job every day. I believe it is a gift to be a nurse.”
From 1972 to 1976, Paula attended grades 1 to 6 at the Kumin Community School before going onto Mendi High School in 1978 for grades 7 and 8.
“I dropped out of school after Grade Eight but my spirit was not crushed. I knew I would still continue my education somehow.”
She stayed at home in 1980 but in 1981, she was selected to attend the Det Catholic Nurse Aid Training School. She received a certificate in nursing in 1982.

“ I wake up every day with a smile on my face and I am always happy. I just love my job as a health worker.”

“At that time, even if you drop out of school in Grade Six, you can apply. It was the right decision I made. The Catholic priests were very helpful, especially the priest who visits my village.”
During her training, she also met her husband with whom she had three sons and three daughters. Two of her girls have also become nurses.
She was first posted to the Purini Catholic Health Centre in Tari, Hela, serving Southern Highlands from there.
“It is a great feeling watching someone who had been arrived with a frown walking out relaxed and smiling after being treated.”
She resigned from the Catholic Health Service to join the provincial health authority in Sept 2001. She is now a community health worker.
In 2018, she worked at an aid post near the Bui-ebi Prison. Her daughters were working at Bui-ebi and she was staying with them and helping out at the prison clinic.
In July this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross staff working at the prison roped her in. She is now one of the 34 health workers working in prison clinics around the country.
She recently attended an in-service training in Port Moresby with 14 other health workers to discuss issues regarding the treatment of inmates.
She plans to implement what they had discussed at Buiebi.
Her advice to school dropouts like her is that “it is not the end of the world”.
“It’s an opportunity look at what went wrong, re-strategise and come back on track stronger to complete the journey. Whatever that is in you is a gift that only you can share with the world. Do not give up. Strive for your dreams.”