Mum-of-five from Leeds with 30 years service as nurse dies from coronavirus

A mum-of-five from Leeds with over 30 years service as a nurse has died from coronavirus.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Zauma Ekoli, 55, was an agency nurse who lived in Leeds.

She worked at Harrogate Hospital, it has been reported.

Zauma died on April 13 according to the Press Association.

CoronavirusCoronavirus
Coronavirus

Her daughter told PA: "It meant everything to be a nurse, she's being doing it for as long as I remember - more than 30 years."

Jill Foster, Chief Nurse at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Zauma Ekoli, known as Josie, was a much-valued agency nurse who has worked with the Trust for the past two years. She worked a range of shifts in a number of wards and departments.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Josie will be sadly missed by all her friends and colleagues at Harrogate District Hospital and our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.”

The Government has confirmed 19 deaths amongst those working for the health service, but announcements from NHS trusts and tributes from loved ones indicate the true number is higher still.

Here are the other 18 NHS workers the PA news agency has confirmed to have died during the coronavirus pandemic so far:

- Leilani Medel, nurse

Mrs Medel, who worked as an agency nurse in south Wales, was described as a "wonderful and caring person". Her employers, Cardiff-based Hoop Recruitment, said: "The nursing profession has lost a warm-natured and beautiful nurse who cared for so many vulnerable people during her nursing career."

- Amarante Dias, hospital worker

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Amarante Dias, who worked at the Weston General Hospital in north Somerset, was described as a "valued and much-loved colleague" and would be "greatly missed".

- Melujean Ballesteros, nurse

The "dedicated and very caring" Filipino nurse, 60, died at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, on April 12, just two days after being admitted.

- Kevin Smith, plaster technician

Doncaster Royal Infirmary confirmed the death of plaster technician Kevin Smith on April 12, following a "brief, but courageous, battle with Covid-19".

He worked at the hospital for more than 35 years and was "renowned for his warm personality, diligence and compassion", the trust said.

- Oscar King Jr, hospital porter

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aged 45, Oscar King Jr, a Filipino porter at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, passed away on April 11.

He was said to have worked for the hospital for more than a decade, "always doing his job with great enthusiasm and joy".

- Elbert Rico, hospital porter

A colleague of Mr King Jr at John Radcliffe, Mr Rico worked as a porter there since moving to the UK from the Philippines in 2004 "and loved the work that he did", according to a fundraising page published by his family.

- Gareth Roberts, nurse

The death of the "extremely popular" Mr Roberts, who came out of retirement in 2015 having worked since the 1980s, was confirmed by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board on April 11.

- Donna Campbell, healthcare support worker

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Described by colleagues as "beautiful and kind-hearted", the healthcare support worker from the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff passed away at the University Hospital of Wales on April 10.

- Sara Trollope, nurse

A 51-year-old matron for older adult mental health services in Hillingdon, west London, Ms Trollope died at Watford General hospital on April 10 after testing positive for the virus.

- Julie Omar, nurse

Aged 52, the trauma and orthopaedics nurse at Redditch's Alexandra Hospital, in Worcestershire, died at home while self-isolating with symptoms on April 10.

- Amor Gatinao, nurse

The nurse is reported to have died on the morning of April 10, having worked at St Charles Hospital, west London.

- Aimee O'Rourke, nurse

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aged 39, the nurse and mother died at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQMH) in Margate, Kent, where she worked, on Thursday April 9.

- Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, consultant urologist

The 53-year-old wrote a Facebook post asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to urgently provide every NHS worker with PPE just five days before he died on the night of Wednesday April 8.

- Dr Edmond Adedeji, doctor

The 62-year-old worked as a locum registrar in the emergency department of Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, and died "doing a job he loved" on April 8.

- Fayez Ayache, GP

The 76-year-old general practitioner and grandfather died in Ipswich Hospital on April 8, having been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and coronavirus.

- Elsie Sazuze, care home nurse

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Sazuze, who worked for Wolverhampton-based agency Totallycare, died on April 7 at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, according to the BBC, who spoke with her husband Ken.

- Leilani Dayrit, nurse

Described as a "ray of sunshine", Ms Dayrit, a Filipino nurse who worked at St Cross Hospital in Rugby, died on April 7.

- Donald Suelto, nurse

The 51-year-old, who worked at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, died on April 7 after going into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms.

- Alice Kit Tak Ong, nurse

The 70-year-old, originally from Hong Kong, died on April 7 after 44 years of working for the NHS. She was described by her daughter Melissa as "generous to everyone else before herself".

- Janice Graham, nurse

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 58-year-old healthcare support worker from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) became the first nurse in Scotland to die as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on April 6.

- Syed Haider, GP

The family doctor worked in Dagenham, east London, and died in hospital on April 6 after it is believed he developed coronavirus symptoms.

- Barbara Moore, patient discharge planner

Described as an "unsung hero", the 54-year-old grandmother died on April 6, the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

- Dr Alfa Saadu, doctor

The 68-year-old, who had returned to work from retirement, died on April 6 at the Whittington Hospital in north London.

- Jitendra Rathod, surgeon

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A "highly regarded" associate specialist in cardio-thoracic surgery at the University Hospital of Wales, Mr Rathod died on the morning of April 6.

- Lynsay Coventry, midwife

Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex announced the death of 54-year-old - the first involving a serving NHS midwife after testing positive for the virus - on April 5.

- Emily Perugia, care worker

A care co-ordinator in Hillingdon, north-west London, Ms Perugia was aged just 29 at the time of her death, which was confirmed on April 5.

She was described by a colleague as a "lovely woman, who never said no to any requests". Her mother, sister, brother and fiance all work for the same NHS trust she represented.

- Glen Corbin, nurse

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 59-year-old had worked at the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health in Harlesden, north-west London, for more than 25 years and his Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust announced his death on April 4.

- Rebecca Mack, nurse

The 29-year-old died on April 5, after going into self-isolation with symptoms. Her friend Sarah Bredin-Kemp said she was an "incredible nurse".

- Liz Glanister, nurse

Aintree University Hospital said the staff nurse died on Friday April 3, with her family describing the loss as "simply beyond words".

- John Alagos, nurse

The Mail On Sunday reported that the 27-year-old nurse, who treated coronavirus patients at Watford General Hospital, died after a shift on Friday April 3.

- Areema Nasreen, nurse

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aged 36, Ms Nasreen died on April 2 in intensive care at Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands - where she had worked for 16 years.

- Sami Shousha, researcher

The professor, 79, who had worked at UK cancer research laboratories at London's Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals since 1978, died on April 2.

- Thomas Harvey, nurse

The healthcare assistant, 57, a father-of-seven who worked at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, east London, died at home on March 29.

- Dr Amged El-Hawrani, consultant

An ear, nose and throat consultant with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), the 55-year-old died at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester on March 28.

- Pooja Sharma, pharmacist

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Sharma, a pharmacist at Eastbourne District General Hospital, died unexpectedly on March 26 according to a JustGiving page created in her memory.

- Dr Habib Zaidi, doctor

The GP in Leigh-on-Sea died in intensive care at Southend Hospital, Essex, on March 25, aged 76.

- Dr Adil El Tayar, transplant surgeon

The 63-year-old died at West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, west London, on March 25, working as a locum surgeon before his death.

- Dr Anton Sebastianpillai, consultant

The consultant geriatrician died on April 4, four days after being admitted to the intensive care unit and two weeks after completing his final shift on March 20, according to Kingston Hospital in south-west London.

Editor’s note:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.