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Friend of nurse who died of COVID-19 wins nursing scholarship in her memory

Award will help clinical support worker to realise her career ambition to qualify as a nurse
Clinical support worker Sheila Kerai wins scholarship to study nursing in memory of her friend Areema Nasreen who died of COVID-19

Award in memory of late staff nurse Areema Nasreen will help clinical support worker to realise her career ambition

Clinical support worker Sheila Kerai wins scholarship to study nursing in memory of her friend Areema Nasreen who died of COVID-19
Sheila Kerai, sitting on a bench dedicated to the memory of her friend Areema Nasreen

The inaugural recipient of a nursing scholarship set up in memory of a nurse who died of COVID-19 has promised to honour the memory of her late colleague and friend.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust clinical support worker Sheila Kerai has been awarded the scholarship in memory of staff nurse Areema Nasreen, who worked at the trust’s Walsall Manor Hospital and died on 3 April 2020. The scholarship will fund four years of nursing studies for Ms Kerai.

‘We are really pleased for Sheila, and know she will make a great nurse at the end of it all, just like Areema’

Kazeema Afzal, sister of the late Areema Nasreen and scholarship judge

She said: ‘We both dreamed of becoming nurses and when I encouraged Areema to start her journey she did the same to me, but the timing wasn’t right for me. I was a single mum with three children, and they needed me, particularly my youngest. But thanks to this scholarship in Areema’s memory it’s my time now and I promise I’ll make her proud.’

A bright future in nursing

The judging panel, which unanimously chose Ms Kerai, included Ms Nasreen’s sister, Kazeema Afzal.

Ms Afzal said: ‘We are really pleased for Sheila, who worked closely with my sister, and know she will make a great nurse at the end of it all, just like Areema.’

Ms Kerai, who works on an acute medical unit (AMU) at Walsall Manor Hospital, will start as a trainee nursing associate in September. After two years, she will be able to join the second year of a nursing degree.

She said: ‘My colleagues say they’ll support me all the way, which is great. And my children are right behind me.

‘Every time I start my shift on AMU, I greet Areema by talking to the plaque we have put on the wall in her memory, and I like to think she’s looking down on me, willing me on.’

The scholarship is jointly funded by the trust and its charity Well Wishers.


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