Celebrating our Nurses on IND 2021

A message from our CEO Graeme Prior to thank our nurses on International Nurses Day 2021.

Today is International Nurses Day and a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate the 250 wonderful nurses who are part of our family in WA and NSW.

These amazing women and men are a credit to their profession and to our business.

Their kindness, compassion and devotion makes the world of difference to our residents and their families every day.

This year's IND 2021 theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - A Vision for Future Healthcare, the day also commemorates the "Mother of Modern Nursing" Miss Florence Nightingale's birthday. 

Speaking to our General Manager Health and Care Services Jennifer Grieve recently, who has been a nurse for the past 50 years, I asked her "what makes a nurse Jenn?" Her response was simple; "Being a nurse means service and belonging, sometimes giving and sometimes receiving comfort; both spoken and unspoken."

She also said it is, "incredibly humbling to be part of a global community of nursing colleagues, friends and kindred spirits who connect and collaborate together in their continued quest to make a positive difference to people's lives."

I also spoke to our General Manager NSW Kris Healy, a nurse herself for 30 years and she said that being a nurse has never been "just a job".

"I don't believe that's how it is for anyone who takes on nursing as a career," Kris said. "I knew when I first started that it was a lifelong commitment to preserve life to the best of my ability, but it's so much more than that; it is technical, emotional, physical and requires the very best communication skills to deliver wellness to sick people - I love it!"

 Nursing is indeed a vocation and they can teach us much about courage and sacrifice. When most people are running in the other direction from an emergency or a pandemic, nurses are bravely running towards it. It takes someone very brave, very selfless and very caring to be a nurse and we are incredibly blessed to have so many talented nurses among our staff.

A nurses courage and devotion is beyond all praise.

Please take the time to thank the nurses that you interact with today and tell them that they are valued more than they know, especially during these COVID times when they are working so hard to keep our residents and staff safe and well.

From the bottom of my heart, to all of our nurses, thank you for the difference that you make today and every day.