Sterling One Frontline Heroes: #1000For1000 Health Workers Fund – Meet Victor Ayodeji Ayeni
We recently announced our partnership with Giving NG‘s Health Workers Fund to help raise money for Nigerian Frontline Workers. Currently, health workers earn a “Hazard Allowance” of N5000 and we aim to increase that to N100,000 for 3 months only. If 1000 people give N1000, we can achieve this goal for 100 health workers. And if 10,000 people give N1000, we can do this for 1000 health workers.
No amount is too small. It starts with you. Read more here.
To give you more insight and get to know the health workers this fund is directly helping, we will feature a health worker every Wednesday. Today, we shine a light on Dr Victor Ayodeji Ayeni.
Meet Victor Ayodeji Ayeni…
Victor’s Background
My name is Dr Victor Ayodeji Ayeni. My earliest inspiration was my childhood interest in research in human health.
I had a Primary School Teacher – Mr Ricky (He was a Ghanaian) – in the late 80s [in Ogun International Montessori Nursery and Primary School, Abeokuta] who inspired a drive for a problem-solving mode of learning and wanting to know how things work. Later, during my secondary school years, I was further interested in innovations in electronics and experiments in science. So somehow I began to look forward to a career in medical science. However, early in my University days, I was drawn into a relationship with the Lord Jesus. That was what drew my focus from a pure scientist to a caring health worker. My subsequent experiences, therefore, gave me a platform for solving problems for any patient who comes my way, with the sense that I am serving the Lord. My foundational learning continues to enable me to develop appropriate technological approaches to medical care in our circumstances. Even though my primary area of speciality is Neonatology, it wasn’t an extraordinary thing for me, therefore, to volunteer to be on the COVID-19 response team, when the need arose.
The First Time He Encountered Covid-19
I think it was January 2020.
I was tense, dressed in the full coverall PPE, but I felt compassion for him. Over the months, it has been tasking, but I have had the joy listening to their fears and being able to give them hope.
My most painful experience during this pandemic was the first time I witnessed a middle-aged patient rapidly deteriorate before my very eyes and eventually passed on, despite all our efforts. The man was an expatriate, with his family outside the country.
That’s not to say there havent been exciting moments. The first was when we discharged a couple who were on admission for many days. Sharing in the joy of their ‘release from detention’, so to say, was pure joy.
What it’s Like at the Treatment Center & Difficulties
The logistics of caring for the patients with the novel virus and running the units, the intersectoral coordination (I had the privilege of co-coordinating the clinical team).
A Special Note from Victor to Nigerians
They are welcome to the realization of this pandemic. And I hope they can keep it up. The sacrifices that most of us go through, the sleepless nights the risks, the racing back and forth, the tension, just to ensure the well-being of our patients and their families cannot be quantified.
Last Notes on the Giving.ng Health Workers Fund
I sincerely appreciate their kind thoughts to encourage us and appreciate the risks we are taking. And I think it’s a good plan to continue to look at how it can be a platform for appreciating diligent health workers.
Dr Victor Ayeni
Lagos
To join others donating to the Health Workers Fund, visit giving.ng/covid19 now.
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TW Magazine is a Media Partner with Giving NG’s Health Workers Fund
