Losing two colleagues to COVID-19 shook nurses and health workers at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva, but also gave them a reason to keep fighting.

Staff nurse Aqela Tokece says testing positive for COVID-19, did not stop her from helping patients in need of critical medical care after she recovered.

Tokece says she used her experience to urge patients, her family, and colleagues to get the vaccine.

She was infected while caring for COVID patients at the hospital, and suffering from other underlying conditions worried her.

“I had hypertension and Diabetes as well so I was trying to balance the three illnesses but I was so thankful that I had the Medical team coming over. I kept contacting them, they came over to visit especially the FEMAT.”

Tokece was reluctant to get the jab but says she would have died if it wasn’t for the vaccine.

After spending two weeks in quarantine in Sigatoka, the Namalata mother of two says she fought the virus knowing that she had to protect her family, and she has a duty to her country.

“I did not have that fear in me again. Now I could go and attend to a positive but I was always cautious about my PPEs. I would ask them, have you received your vaccination, some said not yet, that is where I would tell them my story.”

The 53-year-old nurse has also commended her fellow frontliners, urging them to keep on fighting until the end.

“When it comes to looking after Fiji, there are times when we work with no resources or lack of resources but we are able to manage by communicating, by supporting each other, and to encourage them, they will say we will do it together.”

Tokece is part of the thousands of frontline workers whose sacrifices and challenges are not often seen in Fiji’s battle to eradicate COVID-19.

Click here for the interactive GIS Dashboard