Episode 1: Life of a Silver Chief Nursing Officer

Akwaaba to the first episode of OhemaaTalks. The episode was inspired by our Care Workers everywhere and NHS England. I would like to thank all our Carers and key workers for their amazing work.

I was joined by my friend and Senior Renal Nurse, Clayton Ellis. We discussed his journey into nursing and what inspired him to dedicate his life to the profession. Clayton has over 10 years’ experience and currently works at St George’s Hospital in the Renal Home Therapies Department. He studied at the University of the West Indies and then went on to work at the University Hospital of The West Indies for over 3 years before relocating to London in 2013.

During his time at St George’s Clayton was given the opportunity to develop and grow the Home Therapies Department which enables patients who choose to be dialysed at home to live a more independent lifestyle. Clayton was tasked with educating, supporting and training renal patients in the community whilst empowering them with the knowledge of how to sustain an independent lifestyle whilst on dialysis. He was recently awarded the Silver Chief Nursing Officer Award medal for his success in this role which has helped to reduce hospital stay for renal patients and has provided greater flexibility for training needs in Home Therapies. The Chief Nursing award is a national initiative designed to reward the significant and outstanding contribution made by Nurses in England. Clayton was praised in the award entry for 'delivering excellent innovative care' and for being the 'epitome of what a role model should be for patient centred care'.

Outside of work, Clayton is a keen photographer. You can enjoy some of his work on on Instagram: @allurepixels https://www.instagram.com/allurepixels/

Learn more about your kidney on the National Kidney Foundation https://www.kidney.org/ and The Renal Association https://renal.org/

We found a tutorial on how to correctly wear face mask and gloves https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/31/how-to-correctly-wear-your-coronavirus-face-mask-and-gloves-video

I would love to hear from you on Facebook+Instagram: @ohemaatalks. Twitter @ohemaa_talks.

Stay healthy.