The Dynamic Nurse
In September 2016, Mary Wambui Mwaniki
stood in front of a 300-strong audience of
esteemed health professionals and guests
– including his Highness the Aga Khan – in
London and delivered a keynote presentation.
“There was a standing ovation when I was
done, and later His Highness the Aga Khan
personally thanked me. When everyone stood
and clapped at the end of my presentation, I
couldn’t believe it. It was out of this world! The
entire experience was surreal for me,” says the
Public Health Nurse from Kangema Sub-County
in Murang’a.
“I was at the conference to represent the
Aga Khan University alumni, sharing a
presentation on the impact of Johnson &
Johnson’s scholarship. My presentation was
to be a key deciding factor on whether the
company would continue providing financial
scholarship for students in the University. I must
have convinced them because they decided
to continue with the programme, and it’s still
ongoing to date.”
During her time at AKU-SONAM, Mary was
one of the beneficiaries of the instrumental
scholarship, which she earned by being the
top student in her class. “The scholarship
covered three quarters of the school fees,”
she elaborates. “This really helped because
at the time, my salary from the Ministry of
Health wouldn’t have been able to cover the
training. I’ll forever be grateful to the Aga Khan
University and Johnson & Johnson for making it
all possible for me.”
35-year-old Mary is a dynamo – energetic and
determined. Coupled with her skills, it is these
qualities that have propelled her to the position of Kangema Sub-County Public Health Nurse.
She is responsible for overseeing 30 health
facilities; 19 of them are government-owned, 3
are faith-based and 10 are private.
Her responsibilities include linking the subcounty to the greater Murang’a County in
terms of the delivery of health services,
making sure that facilities are sufficiently
stocked with needed pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical goods, deploying health staff
in the public facilities, inspecting the facilities
to ensure they maintain standards of service
delivery and advising on changes and capacity building of nurses in the sub-county.
Additionally, she also mentors several nurses
in the sub-county: “As a supervisor, my role is
to provide support, motivate and mentor the
nurses in the health facilities I oversee. Being
in a superior position doesn’t mean harassing
your subordinates. My approach is to show
them that I’m not a boss but a colleague at a
different level and we’re working towards the
same goals. I have found that it’s more effective
to discuss the challenges they have and find
solutions together. That way, they love their jobs
and are motivated to perform at their best.”
Mary has held this position since 2015, after
having been a nurse with the immunisation
programme for Murang’a County. Her training at
AKU-SONAM earned her her current position.
“I was appointed to this position just before I
graduated,” she says.
While studying for her BScN, Mary gained
plenty of skills that help her in her job. “I had my
eye on the BScN programme because I knew
the training there was top-notch. The training equipped me with indispensable knowledge
and skills. With the community diagnosis and
problem-solving skills I gained, I managed to
raise the rate of immunisation in my sub-county
to 82% from 75%,” she explains
This is just one of her many achievements.
Mary continues to be a role model to all those
around her, an ideal she plans to keep living by
as she challenges herself to reach even greater
heights.
