Our first female guest on INSPIRE. A Registered Cardiac Nurse on a mission to rescue every child with a cardiac related disease in Nigeria & Africa.
We have featured a story about her organization here on Care City Blog some months back, when it was being launched. Check out that article here. And she has been a wonderful friend of Care City [we love our friends, they are among the reasons why we do what we do].
She’s a colleague, friend and fellow nursing leader. I have weighed her passion, and I must confess, it is real, it is genuine and it is beautiful.
This interview is one that I cherish so much, just like the maiden interview on INSPIRE with Chidera Emmanuel. This one will inspire you to do more.
If you have a dream in your heart that you want to bring to life, do not wait until you have got everything. Just start! DO IT!
“All that you need to dream is your eyes closed and your heart open.”
Follow me, let’s take a little peek into her world.
Interviewer: Ayinla Daniel
Oyeleye Christianah Oyebusola is a Nigeria trained Cardiac Nurse with about 10 years experience. She had her basic primary and secondary education at Paragon International Group of schools, she served in the capacity as the health prefect .
She got admission into the Ogun State School of Nursing (SONAB) in 2009 and bagged her R.N. Post Certification as a Registered Nurse, she started work at the Gideon Orphanage home, where she developed love for Children, she also worked with Prince Specialist Hospital, Asero Abeokuta before proceeding to Day Waterman College Ogun State. The motto of the school “towards surpassing the most demanding available standards anywhere in the world” inspired her a lot to surpass the most demanding available standards in her chosen field.
After losing one of her mothers to Cardiac Disease, she determined to get every knowledge about Cardiac Health and then furthered her nursing education into the Post graduate school of Cardiothoracic Nursing between 2015 and 2016.
She since then started work at the Tristate Heart and Vascular Centre where she fell in love with Cardiology. Her vast experience in this field coupled with her love for children grew her interest in Paediatric Congenital Heart Disease and brought about the initiation of a heart foundation open to all Nigeria children diagnosed with Congenital Heart Diseases.
She is kind, loving and passionate about her job, she sees the best in people and loves to help others to be the best version of themselves. She is a Christian, lover of Art and craft and is open to learning new things. She has volunteered and assumed roles in different capacity. She is interested in education, technology, servant leadership.
Tell us a bit about your passion for the nursing profession
My love for nursing is to see that nursing is an admired profession, unlike what it used to be in the past, or even now; the poor image, unattractive remuneration, inappropriate placement in the clinical scale of works, ugly details that are magnified in developing countries, like Nigeria.
I want to see that nursing is the most admired profession in Nigeria, and this can only be made possible if every nurse wakes up from their slumber, take the pursuit of academic excellence seriously, get involved in digital health and health technology, aspire for leadership positions to effect decisions that will help to improve the image of nursing.
I want more nurses to take on strategic leadership positions; in the academic world, the political arena, and all other important points of society.
If you had not taken the path of nursing, tell us where you would have been.
I would have leveraged on the natural talents I have, focusing especially on nature and abstract things. It would have been fine arts or arts and humanities; horticulture/ hospitality or even studied foreign languages
Who is your mentor in nursing, someone you look unto and admire?
Professor. Ekama Ilesanmi whom I met while writing my council exam 2012 is a woman I admire. As of then, she already had a Ph.D. in Nursing and I would also love to get my Ph.D. in Nursing before I am 40.
We want to know the spirit behind your foundation, The Congenital Heart Disease Foundation of Nigeria.
Really the spirit behind CHDF NIGERIA is to see that only very few children are lost to Congenital Heart Disease in Nigeria. It hurt to see children who have greater chances of making it after surgery cross over for minor reasons or for little inadequacies. It’s to save more kids.
“It hurts to see children who have greater chances of making it after cardiac surgeries “cross over” for minor reasons or for little inadequacies. It’s to save more kids.”
Are you planning on leaving the country to practice abroad?
Yes for a while to get educated and skilled especially in the field of Paediatric cardiology then come back and save more Children.
What inspires you to do more?
To know that something has to be done or made available and nobody wants to take the responsibility of putting it in place motivates me to take it up. Also doing things right is what I believe in and anytime such isn’t done, I take responsibility. I’m not a perfectionist. The love of others many times pushes me to do more, I can be selfless
Are you enjoying the nursing profession?
Nursing is a field that gives satisfaction especially when one is in an enabling work environment. I derive joy working as a Cardiac nurse always. I understand that many colleagues face several challenges, but I’m glad the future is bright for all of us.
What is the most important professional decision that you have ever taken?
This question though kind of triggers my emotions, but very quickly; going for Cardiothoracic Nursing training in 2015 it is.
I saw the many challenges ahead of me, I knew it was gonna cost me a lot, but I focused on the certificate anyway and I’m glad I did despite the hurdles. I wouldn’t be working in the best Cardiac center in Nigeria if I hadn’t
What solution(s) can you proffer to the sick image of the nursing profession in Nigeria?
I believe there isn’t a direct antidote or treatment for the sick image of nursing, however, I am certain that when nurses start knowing their onions, giving continuous and self-education a priority, and we start having more scholars with Master’s degree or Ph.Ds. in Nursing, nursing will get better. With this, nurses begin to compete and start to occupy places and position that other professionals have taken for themselves, naturally, Nursing will take a new dimension.
What kind of support do you need for CHD Nigeria?
For CHDF Nigeria, publicity is the main thing because, with publicity, we’ll get the right people who key into the vision, supporters donors, and philanthropists who will do a lot to help us reach our goals.
We could go on and on, asking one question after another. But, let’s stop here. I believe you have been able to get some inspiration from this brief interview. The world is full of ordinary people going all around doing extraordinary things.
To connect with The Congenital Heart Disease Foundation Of Nigeria, follow them on Instagram. I know that there is something you can bring to Christianah’s team. Reach out to her, and let her know what you want to do to help more children win the battle against Congenital
To be part of the “doing team,” what you must do is to DO! Only those who DO get things done. What have you been thinking of doing? Start now. There’s no better time to start chasing your dreams than now.
Do well to share this interview, let more registered nurses see it, let it inspire them to do more, to be more!
Stay with us, we will be interviewing another registered nurse next month, you don’t want to miss it, I know you don’t, so, to keep in touch, hit the subscribe button below, we love to keep in touch.
Care Code
Digital Health Hub
Care Code is Care City’s Digital Health Literacy Hub, dedicated to exposing healthcare professionals to the realities of Digital Health Technologies.
Join “30 Minutes With Carecode – Let’s Talk Digital Health.” A short thirty minutes online class designed to expose healthcare professionals to the realities of Digital Health!
To be a part of it, join our online community on Whatsapp by clicking the button provided.
Care City is opened to collaborations and partnerships. If you feel that you have an idea that can elevate the status of healthcare professionals, or registered nurses, feel free to reach out to us. Or you want to be a part of what we are doing here in Care City, please feel free to contact us, we can’t wait to have you on the team.
Best Regards.
Ayinla Daniel.
CEO/Founder Care City
