KAMPALA – Ms Jacqueline Nassiwa has been part of Case Hospital for the last 10 years. Nassiwa who is currently the Claims Administrator for Case Medcare rose through ranks to where she is currently.
Starting out as a telephone operator in August 2010, Nassiwa was later redeployed as an Administrative Secretary in October 2010 before assuming her current position.
“The transformation has been big, when I came in 2010 the new extension block was underway, the preliminary work was just ongoing. I remember then the CEO had the artistic impression of the hospital printed out in 3D and he put it on his noticeboard,” she recalls.
According to her, Case has evolved to a place they can comfortably call a home away from home.
“We have become a family where you come to work and feel like it’s a home away from home. We are growing bigger because we are spreading out and they are employing more. Whoever is going to be working here will have to move to a higher level of professionalism and skilling to match up to the greater vision of the group.”
Nassiwa shares that in terms of personnel, staff has been growing over time and 2010 was the peak in growth and the hospital was experiencing a growth in staff numbers who were working in the limited coverage.
She explains that at the time, if you were four people in the department, they would not have a shift cover coming and if one was on leave the three could have to fit in but during that period (2010) they had people coming in specifically for shift covers and these were recognized and paid. These were in all departments; doctors, nurses and general staff.
“We used to have tea brought to us at the reception, the kitchen staff would bring it and patients would look at the gesture and be like this is a good way of treating staff. This was unique as it made us feel special and appreciated.”
Career development
When she started out as a telephone operator much as she had trained and graduated as an administrative secretary, she applied and was given the job since the secretary that had left at that time. She recalls the secretary not giving her enough time before she left to sync in to her new job.
“What Case Hospital does is that it puts you on the frontline and you learn on the job but when you learn you become unbeatable. There are challenges that come which are not everyday challenges that even if the person was there taught you, they would be different and this makes us a strong brand,” she says.
Nassiwa adds that there was a mentorship program and from her then general manager, she learnt to write better since she was the secretary then, she had a lot of letters to write on behalf of the CEO, the general manager, medical reports and the hospital generally.
“Because of that mentorship, I was able to write content for the Commonwealth year book, I wrote content for the Case Medcare profile.”
According to her, every position comes with its challenges and she attributes this to the lack of grooming in the job market today.
She says graduates come from school and what they have studied is theoretical, so they need someone to groom them and help them put what they have studied into practice.
“I have been busy trying to catch up to my expected tasks and to prove myself in these tasks. Of course it has been hard, it called for a lot of learning and pushing of one’s self because you have to meet your goals. For me as an individual, I like to do well and excel, so I like to do so in any field I get to,” she shares.
Aside from her bosses being supportive, Nassiwa says putting staff in places of opportunity to learn makes Case outstanding.
“With Case Medcare for your boss to place you in camps, sensitization in companies to go out there in the field to do more trainings, I feel this is an enabling environment because I feel where someone would have said you need to learn more before you get to the field, they place you right there,” she said.
