The late Edem Awo Dzigbede affectionately called sister Edem and known Davi Edem in her native Ewe was born on 28th January 1961 at Tsito in the Volta Region of Ghana to the late Mr Gilbert Kwasi Dzigbede of Anfoega and the late Mrs Matilda Akosua Amuti Dzigbede of Tsibu.
Biography
Sister Edem was the fourth of seven children and the second daughter of her parents. She had five brothers and one sister.
Both of her parents were teachers by profession. This empowered her to work hard at school and on completing college she took a gap year to work in order to fund her further education as her parents were close to retirement. Sister Edem took this bold step mainly to help her parents to focus their resources on her younger siblings whom were still in junior school.
Sister Edem was inspired by her parents teaching profession, so she decided to follow their footsteps of pursuing a career as a teacher. She enrolled as a pupil teacher (teaching assistant) in the local primary school and did petty trading alongside this job for financial sustenance.
Soon after, she met a young man called Elliot at this stage in life and he became her husband until her saddened and untimely death.
Sister Edem decided to terminate her teaching career, as she felt she had more flare for caring for her pupils than just teaching them. She then decided to pursue a professional training as a nurse instead of a teacher. Her decision surprisingly coincides with her becoming aware of being pregnant with her first child.
Although this good news brought her excitement, it equally posed challenges, however with personal determination and significant support from her family she had her child and proceeded with her nursing training soon after.
Her mother provided substantial care for her child which gave her the opportunity to focus on pursuing her dream career. Sister Edem was empowered by her family/friends until she successfully completed her Diploma in Nursing.
On completion of nursing diploma, she served as a state registered nurse for a year and then was enrolled into midwifery training college at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital (Accra-Ghana). She graduated as state registered midwife from this college.
Edem’s nursing diligence saw her progress rapidly up the ladder from the district to the regional hospital. In 1999, Edem was nominated for regional best nurse award and won. This award was instituted by the state and initiated by then Head of state and president of Ghana; his excellency Jerry John Rawlings.
Soon after these events, a new door opened in her life to emigrate to the UK to pursue her most loved career. She grabbed this opportunity of recruitment of nurses into United Kingdom to support the newly reformed NHS. She migrated to Britain in the millennium (Year 2000) and on arrival she did her nursing adaptation course in Sheffield.
Upon completion, she was invited by her friends to move down to London. She started her nursing career in Britain with nursing agencies, but later applied and secured a permanent job at Queen Elizabeth Hospital-Woolwich in 2001(Now part of the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust). A year later in 2002 she was allowed her husband and three children to join her.
Sister Edem started working at ward 14 as registered nurse band 5 and was later promoted to deputy ward manager band 6 of same ward. She later changed to ward 3 (Respiratory) where she worked until she took early retirement in October 2019.
She worked at QEH for 18 years prior to her early retirement, however practiced as a nurse for over 30 years. Retirement didn’t stop Edem from nursing. After a few months of rest she started very limited hours of bank shifts to keep herself active.
She wanted to keep herself active because at college she was a regional volleyball star, who confidently competed with male counterparts. That’s how dominant her volleyball prowess was. She was also the college head girl of Kpedze Secondary School.
Edem loved her nursing, her colleagues, patients and their relatives. She died doing what she loved most: caring for the sick and for humanity. She had a sense of urgency to contribute her knowledge and skills to assist patients afflicted with Covid-19 virus upon the outbreak of this pandemic.
As a retired respiratory nurse, she didn’t hesitate to help the NHS and government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic when the call went out for the return skilled retired nurses. Unfortunately, she contracted the COVID-19 virus while working on the frontline and she sadly passed away at home on the 19th April 2020.
Sister Edem left behind her husband Elliot and three children, a daughter (Etornam) and two sons (Selorm and Seli) and her two beloved grandchildren Christian and Emily.
She will always remain in our hearts, as she had positively impacted the lives of many family members, friends, her patients and colleagues at work.
On 15th August 1910 Saturday afternoon Florence Nightingale” mother of nursing” unexpectedly died at home in London. On 19th April 2020 Sunday afternoon Edem Dzigbede unexpectedly died at home in London.
One begins to contemplate if it’s a hidden pattern or coincidence that those called to nurse (nursing from the heart) prefer home death? A rhetoric question sister Edem left unanswered. The answer therefore is everyone’s guess!