The ‘aunty to everyone’: Life, work and travels with volunteer nurse Naggie Tsang
We catch up with Naggie after her latest post, on the life-changing Women in Medicine surgical programme in Morocco.
Naggie Tsang is a bit of a hero. The last time we caught up, we heard how her role as a volunteer nurse is just one aspect of a caring life dedicated to helping others. So it should have been no surprise that Naggie came to our chat with a new short hair do, having recently donated her locks to the Little Princess Trust! From doing ‘impact maths’ to sharing her dream suitcase haul, we hope you enjoy this wide-ranging chat with Naggie as much as we did.
Out of necessity, medical environments are controlled environments.
Keeping everything sterile and using a vast array of medical devices – from instruments to monitors – is critical to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients.
“I can’t imagine doing anything else”
Perhaps nursing wasn’t the most obvious choice for a young Naggie, who describes herself as an introvert, not exactly a people-person when she was growing up. But a theme of caring was already threading its way through her early life.
“I’ve been doing charity work since I was five, and I can remember starting to help people even when I was in infant school,” she says. “It was a school Sixth Form secretary whom I got on really well with, who suggested I go into nursing.”
Despite facing challenges with her mental health in her late teens, Naggie persevered on this path and began studying for her nursing degree.
“I discovered I love working with children. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she explains. “I also love the teaching aspect and did some lecturing at university.”
Life experience
Today, Naggie works as a bank nurse at a busy children’s hospital in the UK, and has been bringing her life experience to the role as she increasingly works in paediatric mental health.
“It’s a special kind of relationship with my patients and I understand what they’ve been through,” she reflects. “I say to them: ‘I want you to be that person who gets well and gets out of here… you don’t even have to acknowledge me if we see each other in the street later’.
“I think there’s also something about bank nursing. When they hear that you’ve chosen to work with them, you can see their faces light up.”
Whether volunteering or in her employed role, Naggie has found unexpected joy in the heartfelt connection that comes with being part of a young patient’s life – even if only for a short time.
“I’ve been single for many years, but I feel like I create family around me wherever I go,” she explains. “So I’m aunty to my niece and three nephews – but then I’m aunty to everyone else’s kids too. I love having that unconditional love for 12 hours in a shift, and then I hand that care back to their parents.”
Constant care, before and after surgery
On Operation Smile surgical programmes, Naggie gives her time and skills as a pre- and post-operative nurse.
“First, we get patients ready for their operations,” she explains. “We make sure they haven’t eaten or drunk anything 6 hours before surgery, or 4 hours for breastfed babies. That can mean waking mums up at 3am, so they can feed their babies ready for a 7am op.
“Nurses make sure little ones are as healthy as possible for their cleft surgery, checking their temperature, making sure they don’t have a cough and getting them clean and ready in a surgical gown. The next time they see them will be on the recovery ward, where patients wake up as the anaesthetic wears off.
“Over the next 24 hours, a lot of our work is observation,” Naggie continues. “We’ll monitor patients’ pain levels and keep them comfortable, watch for bleeding, listen for breathing problems and treat any issues like fever or diarrhoea.”
Creativity at work
The next morning, after the surgeons’ rounds, children are usually ready to head home with their families – and a new smile. Nurses show parents how to support their child’s healing, which is also when Naggie’s creativity and resourcefulness comes into its own.
“I’ve just returned from a surgical programme in Morocco,” she says. “We give parents information booklets after the operation, but not all of them can read. Everyone has a mobile phone though. So a local nurse stood in the middle of a circle of parents, showing how to do all the medications, and I invited the parents to film the demo on their phones. It was so helpful for everyone.”
“I’m so privileged to have taken part, even in the smallest of ways”
This trip to Casablance was Naggie’s 13th surgical programme for Operation Smile and her 6th to Morocco, which led to lots of excited text exchanges between volunteers finding out if they’d soon be reunited.
“I just loved reconnecting with everyone,” Naggie remembers. “I met an Egyptian nurse who I’d last worked with when she was a student. So we posed for the same photo together five or six years later!”
An unexpected reunion also came about when she was touched to see two familiar faces from a previous programme:
“During screening day, a mother and daughter started waving at me. They rushed to hug me straight away. I was so excited to see them again. The young girl needed further surgery which we were delighted to be able to provide.”
Naggie and her fellow volunteers were part of the inspiring Women in Medicine programme, which brought together 70 medical professionals from around the world, with one clear goal: to transform the lives of children with cleft conditions. In just one week, the all-female team gave more than 100 patients life-changing surgery and comprehensive care.
Naggie has been reflecting on that impact ever since.
I’ve been thinking about the scale of this (I like maths). We did 110 operations, but it’s not 110 lives that have been changed. If they have two parents, that’s 330. Just one sibling? That’s 440. Two sets of grandparents? That’s 800 minimum, more like 1,000 lives transformed, which is – WOW. I’m so privileged to have taken part, even in the smallest of ways.
Naggie Tsang, volunteer nurse
A suitcase full of mangos
Already looking to a new challenge, Naggie expects her next Operation Smile posting will be to Cebu in the Philippines.
“Professionally, I’m really looking forward to working at the largest cleft care centre in the world,” she says. “Working at that scale is going to be so rewarding.
“On a personal level, I’ve always wanted to visit. I don’t often have much time to discover the country because I’m busy on the programme. But I do know that Cebu is also the world’s biggest producer of dried mango – one of my favourite foods. So I just want to go with an empty suitcase and fill it with dried mango!”
We think a 20kg haul of dried fruit favourites is the least Naggie deserves, for her incredible care and dedication to young people’s wellbeing. Thank you Naggie – we’ll see you in Cebu.