​Thembisa Shologu
As the world marks International Nurses Day, GautengOnline spoke to Clinical Practitioner, Getrude Makhene from Pola Park Clinic in Ekurhuleni about her experiences in the nursing profession.
This year's International Nurses Day was celebrated on Wednesday, 12 May 2021 under the theme: "A vision for future healthcare".
According to Makhene, nurses are caretakers, that put their lives on the line daily for others. 
She said the past year has been the most challenging for her as she has witnessed colleagues, neighbours and patients dying due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she did not resign but chose to continue saving lives.
"Upon hearing of the coronavirus in other countries and how serious it was, I knew it was going to reach a point where it would get worse, so I prepared my mind during that time.
"I am a nurse, I have to go to work to protect the people, unfortunately I cannot stay at home. I took the nursing pledge that I will be there and do the best that I can to save people's lives.
"I was scared, very scared at some point, I made sure that I really protected myself and my family in so many ways . Just to make sure I stay alive and be able to help others," said Makhene.
Even though nursing was not her first choice of profession, she says being a nurse fulfils her life's purpose.
"As a child, I always dreamt of becoming a teacher or a social worker. Nursing happened later  after I matriculated.
"During my gap year, I met one of my former teachers who showed  me an advert about nursing. Although it  was not my first love I am enjoying it," said the 41-year-old nurse.
Admittedly there are bad nurses but not all of us are guilty.
"I know there are instances where there is negligence but it is a few people that are doing that so we must not be painted with the same brush.
"We are different as nurses, people should not use their  painful experiences to unfairly categorize others and in the process, be rude to other nurses," she added.
Being a health worker for 20 years, Makhene said it was important that nurses appreciate themselves more.
"We do a lot and most of what we do, are things people cannot see. We go the extra mile for our patients. We get people with social problems to a point that we must dip into our pockets to help a patient.
"We go an extra mile for our patients as nurses we need not wait for someone else to complement us, so individually we need to really support each other and remind each other of the nursing pledge which is  rich with love and humanity," she concluded.