Health students at SBU Sixth had a very special visitor on Tuesday 11 March. Pioneering nurse, health educator and sickle cell specialist Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu visited our campus in Brixton, where she met student and staff leaders, toured health facilities and gave a wonderful hour-long question-and-answer talk to students from all our health and science classes. During her visit she also officially opened the ‘Dame Elizabeth Anionwu Simulation Ward’ – a simulated hospital ward that has a range of medical equipment and ‘android patients’, enabling students to develop skills in a realistic care environment.
Dame Elizabeth enjoyed meeting student leaders from health subjects, and learning about recent developments in training including T-levels and the opportunities for some our students to become NHS and St John’s cadets. Following this meeting, she gave a talk to around 80 health students, answering a wide range of questions covering her background, experience of discrimination and how she overcame it, and her own motivations and historical nursing icons.
Among the many pieces of wisdom she imparted, Dame Elizabeth advised the group on how to remain patient-centred, even when having a tough day yourself. “Build your own virtual toolbox for resilience – things you can do to stay strong when you feel challenged, as we all do. Thoughts of family, chats with friends, music, laughter, reflection – they can all help us to remain kind at all times with the people who need us the most.” Dame Elizabeth revealed how she found great comfort in being able to laugh at ‘The Derry Girls’ during the Covid crisis, for example.
She also explained how she used anger as a positive force, especially early in her career. “I was angry that as a young nurse, I was encountering people suffering from the effects of Sickle Cell, and I had no training in how to help them. I turned that anger into a motivating factor – how could I help overcome ignorance and provide better care, not just to my own patients and across the country? I think my anger therefore helped drive me to achieve what I did. When you get angry about injustice, or lack of support or knowledge, use that feeling to ensure you make a positive difference.”
In her long and varied career, Dame Elizabeth developed her skills to become the UK’s first sickle-cell and thalassemia nurse specialist. As diseases that have a disproportionately high occurrence among people of African and Black American decent, this was important in addressing health inequalities among an increasingly diverse population. She also became an influential figure for change in the health system. She has been recognised with numerous honours for her work, including the award of a CBE in 2001, induction into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 2010, being made a Dame (DBE) in 2017 and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pride of Britain awards in 2019. In 2022 she was made a member of the Commonwealth Order of Merit, which has restricted membership to a maximum of 24 living recipients and counts Florence Nightingale, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela as previous members. She is also an Honorary Doctor of Science with LSBU.
Ingrid Miller, SBU Sixth’s Lead Tutor for Health Science, said: “A visit from such an inspirational figure as Dame Elizabeth is a wonderful opportunity for our students, both to learn from her experience and realise their own potential as the care professionals of the future. We are grateful and honoured by her visit and plan to learn more about the developments she has made in our understanding of disease and the way we run our health services. Naming our Simulation Ward after her will provide lasting inspiration to all our health science students.”
You can read more about Dame Elizabeth and her work here. Her book, ‘Dreams From my Mother’, is available in print and audio book. Dame Elizabeth also kindly donated a signed copy to the SBU Sixth Form’s health library.
