Gelisim News

Our Nursing Club hosted Attending Nurse Mülkiye Okyay in the conference “Becoming a Volunteer Nurse Worldwide” organized by Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU). Mülkiye Okyay, selected as the Nurse of the Year in 2011 by the Ministry of Health and served as a volunteer nurse in Pakistan, Kenya, Philippines, Indonesia, Sudan, Niger-Morocco, Somalia, Chad, Syria, Bangladesh, Uganda, met with our students. Director of IGU the School of Health Sciences Asst. Prof. Dr. A. Yüksel Barut, Head of Department of Nursing in English and the Consultant of the Nursing Club Asst. Prof. Dr. Funda Karaman, Head of Nursing Department Asst. Prof. Dr. Canan Örüklü made the opening speeches in the conference.

Mülkiye Okyay stated that she started to be a volunteer nurse just after the Marmara earthquake and expressed the earthquake in1999 as follows:

“There was a terrible darkness everywhere. Communication and transport facilities were broken. Children were crying and waking up with fear from their sleep, their mothers' cries of help were creepy. I learned that Gölcük was in much worse condition and that there was a lot of help needed and I said I needed to help them. I wanted to join the help team, but they told me there is no need for an operating room nurse, but I couldn't just stand there. I went after the ambulance to go to Gölcük. And I'm glad I went. Because Gölcük had been destroyed and I stayed there voluntarily for 3 months. That's how my journey began.”

Stating that seeing African people in need, Africa became a love for her, Mülkiye Okyay said: “There's not even a hospital in Africa. While we were leaving, we prepared dozens of parcels from surgical equipment to toilet paper and went to Africa because there is no way we can provide it. For example, we created our own facilities, such as the old abandoned shed, which we used as a hospital, where we used this as an emergency place outside the shed, under the trees and trees where we hang serums, although we did cataract surgeries there. We've taken tumors up to 9.5 kilograms. We circumcised children who were not circumcised. I hear you say, “How did you achieve sterility in the operating room?”. It wasn't easy at all! We were providing sterility with bleach. Of course, we couldn't cure everyone. The number of AIDS patients was very high, and if we could not cure if there was no fatal disease.”

Mülkiye Okyay stated that she was deeply affected by the joy and tears of the mother of the 11-year-old child, who was born with a cataract and was visually impaired and told about the experience that she struggled for hours at birth and said:
“They were so accustomed to infant deaths in Africa that they said that the baby was not breathing very comfortably and did not intervene properly. I immediately took the baby, feeling a very weak pulse, but I couldn't predict whether it was the pulse of my finger or the baby's pulse. As a result of the interventions, the baby started to cry and I heard the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. So they named the baby Property. It was an unspeakable bliss for me.”

Okyay told nursing students how to go if they want to go and said: “There are related associations for volunteers, and you became volunteer and experienced at the same time. After being experienced, you say 'I can go' and apply to the association. When the association says ‘OK’, it goes to the relevant ministry and is approved. TIKA also supports it. They provide flight tickets with material facilities”. At the end of the conference, a certificate of appreciation was given to Okyay due to her contribution and participation.