HUMANS OF HEALTHSTATION — MAY 2020

This month, the spotlight would be on Osuagwu Barnabas and Ephraim Okonkwo.

Osuagwu Barnabas is the Ag. Implementation Team, HealthStation. He is a graduate of Information Technology from NOUN. Barnabas Started work with HealthStation as an FTO. Barnabas has extensive experience in cross-functional IT Projects and Management. He has led teams in the delivery of a wide range of Network Solutions to private and public institutions. When Barnabas is not at work, he is playing with his beautiful wife and wonderful kids, web surfing or gaming with PlayStation.

When did you join HealthStation Limited?
I joined HealthStation as an FTO in the year 2014. Before joining HealthStation, I worked with Virtual Essentials and SocketWorks Nigeria as a Network Administrator. I have always wanted to work in a challenging IT environment, which HealthStation offers.

What has been the most interesting moment working with HealthStation?
One thing that cuts across HealthStation project sites is network and power challenges at different priority level and exploring these challenges with swift mitigations or solutions brings about the fun and widens the Professional horizon.

Can you explain the struggles/hurdles you’ve experienced at work?
Once the hospital network is down at any level, is logged to our department when the resident Site Administrator’s mitigation plan disappoints. At that moment, it becomes a type A priority call with a ticking time to it that needs to be diffused like a bomb and so we need to deliver and get the site operations back. Of course, the stakeholders are waiting for feedback. Other challenges at work are just conventional. God has been gracious to us in all.

What’s one lesson you have learned?
Every company evolves and some may not be patient to see the company go through such stage. One important lesson I have learned over the years is PATIENCE and PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. As an individual, things may not work out as planned but once you are humble and willing to learn, things will fall in place.

Joining the company a few years back, what has surprised you the most about your experience here thus far?
The vision and focus of the leadership. When the leadership of a company has a vision for sustainable growth with focus, the sky is the springboard. Also, the employees are not just colleagues but a family. It thrills me.

What advice would you give someone who wants to work at HealthStation?
When you work at HealthStation, you’re in for constant improvement. Not only do you have the privilege to work with creative minds, but you must also be willing to learn and have an impact on the company. With this in mind, you have to be proactive and innovative. When you do these

Meet Ephraim

Ephraim Okonkwo is the site manager of Healthstation Limited at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi. He graduated from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka, Anambra State with a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering. He is married to one wife and God has blessed them with children.
Ephraim likes discovering new things. When he is not working, he is either reading, tending to farm animals or playing with his family.
He is also a preacher of the Word of God with an avid desire for correct and righteous living.

How did you get involved in the Hospital Information Management Services (HMIS) space and when did you join HealthStation?

I joined HealthStation in 2012 as a Field Technical Officer (FTO). Before joining HealthStation, I worked with several companies. I started with A-Z Petroleum Products Limited as a Production line Manager. I also worked with Afro-Asia, a manufacturing company that deals on plastics as a Business Process Manager (BPM).
My experience with HealthStation was unique because I had the opportunity of applying several experiences I have gotten from the manufacturing and distribution of tangible products.

The Hospital Information Management System is still evolving in Nigeria, Healthstation Limited being a mega player in this huge space; gave me a great opportunity to learn new things and adapt to this fast-changing technology-driven world of ours. This was possible through several contacts and exchange of ideas with several great minds in the team. From the management team to the local stations /sites domiciled in several hospitals, each player had played several roles in developing of high-quality products and services which are constantly being deployed today in meeting and solving our day-to-day hospital operations need. And for this am grateful to all the team members.

What has been the most interesting moments working in Healthstation?
Interestingly, the initial days in the work was with several heats and “baptism by fire”; there was this drive to learn new things — the software and different attached modules, the networks and their topology for easy network troubleshooting to reduce downtime and in the overall increase of our turn-around time(TAT) in terms of network service delivery being the live wire of the site business.
My primary area of assignment, NAUTH being a virgin centre had several expectations those days; several of the users were dire pessimistic about the workability of the product being the first of its kind within the locality but the team were very positive and eager to make things work and also to install in the users the same zest and optimism they had. Thank God, today NAUTH is one of the reference centres for other hospitals and key marketing reference for the company due to this resilience to make it work. One of our common mantra those days was the words of Spartacus,” Achilles, let’s go to Troy”.
Indeed, it was my most challenging moments but am happy today because those days gave us a formidable platform to learn and prepare ourselves for several roles we are playing now and the advancements we are making today.

Can you explain the huddles/struggles you’ve experienced at work?
For me, I belong to the school of thought that sees work and believe work to be fun. Despite this philosophy, there had been several moments in the course our operations that this belief had been threatened.
These struggles and huddles had always been experienced during major down-times due to equipment failures or need for an urgent update on the module. This was the greatest challenging moment I had experienced, especially during those early days that we sorely depend on vendors and contractors for most repairs and fixes around sites.
Most times, you may experience a major area been down for days because the vendors are coming from Lagos or somewhere outside the country. You send emails and make calls for months just to get a minor fix done on the module without any progress because the contractor’s visa has not been approved.
But thank God today, the company has developed several in-house capacities in several areas that my initial philosophy for work has been proven correct day-by-day as we do what we are paid to do.

What’s one lesson you have learned?
The greatest take-home lesson for me in all these years through the good, the bad and the ugly have been to take life easy and be patient with people. Some of my greatest adversaries had today been my best friends because we see in parts and learn by precepts.
I have also learned to respect people for who they are and for what they believe, knowing well now that you cannot change someone else but you can only change yourself by adapting to others. My experience in the team has also thought me to believe in God more because small thing when given proper attention could grow to an unimaginable size.

Joining the company a few years back, what has surprised you the most about your experience here thus far?
From my experience, having worked with other private firms and multi-nationals; my surprise has been discovering a company that applies a transparent performance measurement matrix in rewarding hard work and dedication.
This wave of reward has given birth to performance-based motivation and not nepotism; this has contributed to hiring young and energetic minds that are ready to make changes in their spheres of influence and affect their world for good.
The management team has been exceptional, they consist of “talk-na-do” men and women. Through their wisdom and examples, the entire team had set an unattainable height in the industry for both clients and competitors.
Their vision and passion for excellence have also set the pace in the industry for new grounds and frontiers for more innovative models and service deliveries in line with best standard practice.

What advice would you give someone who wants to work at Healthstation?
My advice to prospective staff or employee in Healthstation has always been, stay committed and dedicated to your job; because with these virtues, the sky is just a starting point in your career and personal goals achievement.
Secondly, be open-minded to learning with a humble heart. For sure people would sometimes shout at you or tend to disagree with you in some ways but you need not take it personally, those shouting sometimes comes with pressure and need to get things correctly done within timelines. And once the job is done, everybody is happy and the overall goal congruence is achieved.
You also need to maintain a high level of integrity; the Information Technology (IT) world and its activities have been so bastardized nowadays with fraudsters and get-rich-quick syndrome, that institutions and organizations pride in the integrity of their data managers for continuity in business. And Healthstation is not an exception being a front-liner in this drive.

Where do you personally see Healthstation in two (2) years?
HealthStation has been consistent over these years — close to a decade now with right products for the right customers; their flexibility in adapting and evolving in this fast-changing sphere gives them unprecedented access to greater heights and more grounds in years to come.
We believe that in the nearest future, our products would become a household name within the corridors of power in Hospital Information Management and telemedicine across the globe. Our correct positioning in the market today and investments in research and development, we believe would in no distant time yield the expected returns.
So, the future is bright for the company and better days are more ahead, our management team and the entire staff are working tirelessly day and night to ensure that this dream come true!