An exclusive interview

The unique challenges of home care nursing

“When I decided to be a nurse, I was confronted by my whole family, especially my father. They were saying, “You're smart. You have some potential. Why would you go and be a nurse?” - like this is something degrading. I had to fight to do nursing at university. My father said, quote, “You want to waste four years in college to give clients a bed bath or to give patients showers. This is your dream, this is your career goal.” It was so hard for me to explain to everyone that this is not nursing. In the Middle Eastern background, if you are not accomplished or if you couldn't succeed in school, you go and do nursing, so it was a bit tough for me at the start, but I had a clear career path. I knew I would be good at this and I knew I would succeed and I would move forward in my career.”

Cendrella Chamy is the Director of Nursing at Lana Life Care in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She received her master’s degree in public health education and promotion from Lebanese University in 2013. She worked as an intensive care nurse at her university hospital before moving to work in homecare in 2013, when she began working as a home care manager. In 2017, she worked as a clinical educator and training manager at the Al Zahra hospital in Dubai before moving to her job at Lana Life Care.

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