Veteran hoping for change

By GLORIA BAUAI
A VETERAN community health worker (CHW) Bernard Wago has one wish which is to see Sokam aid post, where he currently serves in Nawaeb, Morobe, promoted to a health centre.
Wago is into his 39th year as a CHW after graduating in 1983 from an Anglicare health school in Popondetta, Northern.
He was sponsored by the Catholic mission right out of grade eight in 1981 to undertake two years of training as a health worker.
Wago served in Kaintiba, Gulf, under the Catholic health services for six years before moving to Morobe where he has been for more than 20 years.
“I love serving the sick, especially in remote areas,” he said.
“Even when they are unable to walk to the health facility, I go to their village to check on their condition.
“Now, with my age catching up, I’ve been told to remain in Sokam where there’s road access into Lae, until I retire.”
Moving to Morobe in the 1990s, Wago served Nawaeb – first at Bawan for 11 years before being posted to Sokam in 2008.
He said over the last 14 years, he had worked hard for Sokam to stand out in the district, through its service delivery and its appearance.
Sokam aid post, built in 1979, sits comfortably on the edge of a hill, with the Boana mountains in the background. It is run-down but it serves 5,000 people and delivers around 50 babies each year.
Wago, however, said the place was not always picturesque when he started work there.
“This area was waterlogged and full of frogs,” he said.
“It took time and dedication apart from my health service to transform the look of this place.”
“Now, people from surrounding villages prefer Sokam for their health care.”
Wago said rural health care was not easy – he had his share of medicine supply shortages among other challenges.
“For rural health care, you improvise with whatever resources you have to give the best service to your people,” he said.
“I am grateful to all those who assisted in enhancing my capability. AusAid gave me a bicycle which I was using to reach more remote areas of my catchment to do awareness and routine checks.”
With his age catching up, Wago has only one wish – to see that his beloved Sokam aid post is in good hands before he retires.
“Sokam is home for me,” he said.
“My biggest hope is to see the status of this aid post lifted to a health centre.”