Tonuve Village nurse Sainimili Kidimoce Madraiwiwi, 53, deserves praise for saving the life of a newborn baby and the mother early Tuesday morning with no complication.

The village nurse of 13 years was awoken at 4am by a man whose relative had gone into labour in Tovatova Settlement, some four kilometres away from Tonuve in Bemana, Navosa.

Apart from the isolated location of the village, the inaccessibility by road and wet weather conditions were only one of the many things that made her work daunting.

However, this had never deterred Ms Madraiwiwi from fulfilling her role.

After receiving the call, she sprang into action with her 21-year-old son, a second year nursing student, Rusiate Degei in tow to attend the birth.

She called the midwife Sereima Namata and the zone nurse to inform them before going into the village to ask for assistance from the owner of a tractor to transport them to the settlement.

“When we arrived the baby had already been born but the umbilical cord was still intact so I cut it and tied it and then I cleaned the baby and the mother,” Ms Madraiwiwi said.

“I remained calm and confident throughout and the only thing I was worried about was that nothing happened to the mother or baby because she had already given birth and it would take a few more hours until they arrived at the hospital.

“We were in constant contact with the nurse and midwife as they were on their way to the other side of the river to wait for us in their vehicle.

“Despite the rain we managed to transport the mother and baby and the father to the river by tractor where the village boat was waiting for us. It transported us across the flooded river to the health team where I handed over the mother and baby.”

Being a village nurse for more than a decade has taught Ms Madraiwiwi to attend to cases at any time of the day or night which was not a challenge for her.

“The only difficulty for us is when there is a lot of water because we have to swim across the Sigatoka River. That was 13 years ago. This year we have the village boat that transports us across to the other side so that helps.”

Praising the village nurse for the effort, Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said he was very proud of them.

“You know I have maternal links to the area so I’m very proud of what they have done to retrieve the sick case with our team up in Navosa and come across on the boat,” Dr Waqainabete said.

“Recently the Fiji Roads Authority has fixed the road to Bemana on the other side of the river so they can bring the tractor.

“They were able to call from Tovatova to the hospital in Navosa and I’m thankful to the Ministry of Communication and the mobile providers because that was something that couldn’t happen before.”

He added that the village was able to secure a boat and a 40 horsepower engine through the help of the ministry of rural development.

“Development helps because we talk about the social determinants of health which is having a road, having accessibility whether by vehicle or boat, having communication, having the hospital close by.

“The other great story about that too is that the community health worker understands her role which is to pick up those who are sick and discuss it early with the hospital.”

Both mother and baby were transferred to the Sigatoka Hospital at 9am.

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