The Catalyst
Ideas with a spark, energy, range and the ability to start things.
Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu is a pioneering British nurse, healthcare administrator, lecturer and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London. In 1979 she became the United Kingdom's first sickle cell and thalassaemia nurse specialist, co-establishing the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Counselling Centre with consultant haematologist Dr Milica Brozovic.
“Well, first of all, it's wonderful to meet you, Sir Charles. Thank you very much, and I'm looking forward to our chat. Yes, I am now 74 years of age, so we're going way back to a couple of years after the Second World War, as you've said. And actually my memory of those nine years in a children's home are generally extremely happy.”
“But have you actually explored it? Have you actually applied? No, I think you should do that. And it was just so straightforward in your face get on with it basically in the nicest possible way. I did that, I got onto a course. Not only did that, I got a scholarship to cover all my fees. Rang my father told him he said there you go.”
“But and then they would put bandage over it. The dreaded part for me was when the bandage was taken off because by this time now the coal tar paste had dried not only onto the skin but onto that bandage.”
“Nothing has changed dramatically since I became a qualified nurse in 1968. And the main difference for me is the degree of specialization, which has its positives, it has its negatives as well.”
Off The Agenda (recorded at the Brigade and Beyond Food Foundation)
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