Farewell to Nursing Icon

BY: .

The UKZN community and health professionals from all over South Africa gathered at a memorial service co-ordinated by the College of Health Sciences (COH) to celebrate the life of nursing icon, Professor Leana Uys, who died recently after a long battle with cancer.

UKZN’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of COH, Professor Rob Slotow, expressed the College’s deepest heartfelt condolences to the Uys family and her loved ones. ‘May we all find strength in the memories we share of Professor Uys and continue to draw inspiration from her will and determination to always be the best one can be.’

Slotow said he would always remember Uys as a formidable person who held a high moral ground.

Dean of the School of Nursing and Public Health, Professor Busi Ncama, said Uys loved the Institution and treated her students like they were her own children. ‘She was not only pushy; she also provided a lot of opportunities and support for her students and staff. She was a very diligent individual who never tolerated laziness,’ said Ncama.

Academic Leader of Nursing and a former student of Uys’s, Professor Gugu Mchunu, said she was where she was today because of Uys who had not only been her mentor but also her councillor, a role model and her pillar of strength.

Mchunu said Uys was a visionary: ‘She could see opportunity where no-one else did. She saw potential and moulded us. She was a disciplinarian who taught us to work independently and own our work.’

Her friend and former colleague Dean of the School of Health Sciences, Professor Sabiha Essack, said Uys had the ability to see potential: ‘She taught us to make a difference and also to transform the people we worked with. We are where we are today because of what she did for us personally and professionally.

Former colleague and Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at the Durban University of Technology, Professor Thandi Gwele spoke extensively about Uys as a friend.  Gwele, who met Uys in 1989, said she always brought feelings of warmth and appreciation. ‘She was a prolific scholar and a leader in Nursing. She had a strong transparent leadership and led by example.’

Ms Haniefa Bi Allee of the Islamic Medical Association of Nurses said she admired Uys’s humanity. ‘Uys fought tooth and nail to get all nurses together beyond colour, race or creed. She echoed so many things in us. She taught me how to become a grief councillor.’

Chairperson of the Nursing Council, Professor Busi Bhengu, said the Nursing profession had lost its hero. ‘Leana was a beacon of light to the Nursing profession.’ 

Ms Nelouise Geyer of NEA/FUNDISA said with Uys a person never knew what was going to happen next. ‘You always had to be ready to accept and understand what was coming. Before she died she gave us our marching orders, so I know she is resting in peace because she knows we will finish the book.’

Mrs Joan Makhathini of the Natal College of Nursing said Uys’s contribution to the development of the nursing training programme assisted the programme in moving forward. ‘She was a true leader and a scholar. Even in her retirement she was still involved in the College’s progress.’

Uys’s brother, Mr William Uys, thanked the University for being a second family to his beloved sister.

‘She loved UKZN and she loved the province of KwaZulu-Natal. She lived by four rules; volunteer for work, make yourself impossible to ignore, produce what is demanded and play the game by the rules,’ recalled Mr Uys.

Professor Uys served as Professor of Nursing and Head of the School of Nursing from 1986 to 2001 and as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Health Sciences from 2004 to 2009. She was rated as a B-category scientist by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2008 – the first Nurse to achieve this level. 

According to the NRF, researchers in this category ‘enjoy considerable international recognition by their peers for the high quality impact of their recent research’. On retirement in September 2012, she was CEO of the Forum of University Nursing Deans of South Africa.

Professor Uys was recognised for her participative leadership style in her interaction with colleagues and in the projects she managed.

Her initiatives were to the benefit of the Nursing profession globally and her work characteristic of her expertise and dedication to the upliftment of the Nursing profession through collaborative interaction.

Some of the leadership positions she held included:

• President of the Tau Lambda-at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, 2000 – 2006;

• Interim Executive Dean for the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (2004);

• Director: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery

Development, 1997 – 2004;

• Chair of the South African Nurses in HIV/AIDS Care, (2002 – present);

• Vice President of the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation in Africa since 2000;

• WHO Consultant to Bahrain: July and December, 1998;

• Founder member of the Joanna Briggs Institute Collaboration Site in Durban, South Africa.

Some of Professor Uys’s greatest achievements were winning the 2009/2010 Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award in the Education and Training Sector, an honorary life membership and patron of the Nursing Education Association of South Africa, winner of the Mary Tolle Wright Award for excellence in leadership and being recognised as a B-Rated Researcher by the National Research Foundation.

Her passion and dedication to the University saw her bring on board many international collaborators, many of whom previously did not offer professional degrees in nursing on the continent.

Despite being so academically driven, Professor Uys took an interest in everyone’s families. Her personal touch and caring manner earned her the nickname “Big Mama”!

In 2013, Professor Uys created an Endowment Fund to assist existing students with registration and bridging funds to ensure retention in the health sciences.

-          Nombuso Dlamini