Eastbourne nurse dies from Covid-19

Wilbald Tesha, known as Tesha, died in the DGH last week as a result of the coronavirus.

He worked as a mental health nurse with Sussex Partnership NHS Trust at the DGH and psychiatric units at Hellingly.

The trust’s chief executive Samantha Allen said in a statement this week, “My thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues in Eastbourne at this incredibly difficult time.

“I have heard many, many wonderful things about Tesha and what a kind, caring and compassionate nurse he was – a good friend to many and someone who would do anything to help another. I know he will be dearly missed and over the days and weeks ahead we will do all we can to support his family, friends and colleagues.

“I do not under estimate the impact of his loss across the teams in East Sussex, particularly all who worked with him in Eastbourne and on the many patients Tesha will have come to know over his many years in the service. I know our psychology team has been in touch with colleagues in East Sussex to discuss immediate support needs. We are of course all here to support our colleagues who knew him well, both as a colleague and a friend.

“I have made contact with Tesha’s family and will continue to discuss with them and staff who knew him well how we can acknowledge Tesha’s significant contribution to the NHS, local services and his support to his community in Tanzania and the charity he was involved in.

“I have also spoken with Dr Adrian Bull, the chief executive at Eastbourne DGH, to convey our heartfelt thanks to all the clinical staff who cared for Tesha.

“Tesha was a valued member of our team who worked within the NHS for almost 30 years.”

Tesha’s friend and former colleague Jason O’Flaherty worked with him for a number of years and returned with him to his native Tanzania in a volunteering role for the Wishing Well charity.

He said, “Originally from Tanzania, Tesha always remembered his roots and regularly went back home. He would often say how lucky he was in receiving an education that facilitated him moving from a very poor village with not even the most basic facilities to develop a successful career.

“Tesha first trained as a secondary school teacher in Tanzania and then after moving to the UK trained as a psychiatric nurse at the Eastbourne School of Nursing. After completing nurse training, Tesha remained in Eastbourne and worked for the NHS for more than 30 years.

“Tesha was an A&E psychiatric liaison nurse, employed by the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust, spending most of his time working at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

“He invited me to his home village because he was extremely keen to see if our Wishing Well charity could provide any support to his former primary school. I was fortunate to be able to visit Shimbwe with Tesha on two separate occasions.

“The first visit was back in 2009 when we took a few basic supplies to the school and undertook a scoping exercise to consider how we could do more work. On our second visit which took place in 2011, we were joined by some more charity volunteers and were able to take many more resources as well as totally refurbish two classrooms, replacing missing doors and windows, painting the walls and generally making the classrooms a more pleasant environment.

“Due to other commitments, Wishing Well has not been able to return to Tanzania since then but Tesha and I had continued talking and exploring plans on how we could build on this work.

“In the last few weeks before Tesha became ill we had started work on a grant application to fund some more work. The deadline was this September and we had discussed many different ideas for more work to start this year. “Unfortunately in July Tesha was struck down with Covid-19. One night, while working as a nurse he felt unwell and had to go home. Quickly after that his health worsened.

“I was in close contact with Tesha while he was in hospital and even when Tesha was very ill in the intensive care unit when I asked him if there was anything he needed me to do for him, all he asked for was for me to move forward with the school project in his home village.

“Tesha was an extremely talented, caring and humble man. Thinking only of others when he was dealing with the most challenging and critical situation in his own life.”

An appeal has been launched in Tesha’s memory and donations can be made at https://www.wishingwellcharity.org/teshas-legacy