Mary Ozuruonye Agholor is the first Nigerian nurse to become a broadcaster. She founded the radio station the “Nightingale Radio station” as a platform for Nurses to speak out and express themselves and serve as an information hub for Nurses and Nursing bodies such as NANM, NMCN, and more. The station has become a rallying point and voice of Nurses in Nigeria. As a public health nurse with a passion for public speaking and broadcasting, Agholor’s daily work routine involves creating health awareness, preventive medicine advocacy, and increasing the availability of health information. She uses public speaking and broadcast media as tools to facilitate public health education through health shows on the radio. Recently, Agholor has been involved in the dissemination and propagation of information about COVID-19 primarily through Florence Nightingale Radio.
She additionally gives weekly presentations on another radio station, Living proof Radio, to reach out and educate the population on COVID-19. Agholor paired her nursing skills with her understanding of media to produce jingles about COVID-19 prevention and control which are being aired on three different media houses. The jingles focus on the need for constant and consistent handwashing with soap and water, frequent use of hand sanitizer, proper use of facemasks, and physical distancing. Additionally, as a nurse in broadcast media, Agholor joined the National Volunteer Group on COVID-19 (NVG_Covid-19) in Nigeria. She was appointed the state Director of Media for the National Volunteer Group, set up to supplement government interventions with added personnel, where she coordinated the distribution of food items to assist those in need and the erection of handwashing stands at strategic points during the pandemic.
*Mary Ozuruonye Agholor not pictured. PHOTO CREDIT: Adara