K. Krishna Kumari, a nurse serving at the Rural Community Health Centre of Kukudakhandi in Ganjam district, has been conferred the prestigious Florence Nightingale Award for her outstanding service.
She was the only one from Odisha among 35 nurses from across the country who were conferred the award by President Pranab Mukherjee on May 12. The award carries a purse of Rs. 50,000, a certificate, a citation and a medal.
Ms. Kumari has decided to spend the award money on philanthropic work. “I will donate the money for the education of children of some deserving orphanage and an old age home,” she said.
Because of her passion for social service, people of all ages know her as Krishna Aka of Krishna Apa (Aka and Apa mean sister). People of Kukudakhandi say when they reach Kukudakhandi CHC, they first seek out Krishna Aka/Apa as her presence brings them confidence.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Kumari said: “Be it duty hour or not, it is my habit to come out of my official quarter on the CHC premises whenever any needy patient reaches the hospital”.
Long hours of nursing service as well as looking after her bed-ridden mother sometimes affects her own health. “But I get energised from the satisfaction I see on the faces of recovering patients and their relatives,” she said.
She claims that after the marriage of her only daughter she now has more time to serve the patients.
She hails from a not-so-well-to-do family. Her father was a peon at the Kukudakhandi block office. After completing secondary school, she decided to serve the people of her area. She become an Anganwadi worker in 1982. Later she took up Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) training and joined a private hospital.
She also contested the panchayat polls and got elected as a panchayat samity member of Kukudakhandi block. She left her post to join as a nurse at the Banthapalli sub-centre of Kukudakhandi CHC in 1999. Tribals and Dalits living in Banthapalli area still remember their ‘Krishna Didi’, who made regular visits on her scooter and worked late into the night.
She also has a unique hobby. She helps poor aged persons take trips to famous religious places in Odisha and outside. At times, she accompanies them during these trips. “Their happiness provides me bliss,” she said.
