A sense of humour has been vital to Patricia Danvers in her long career as a nurse.
Patricia, of Newcastle West, graduated as a registered nurse 40 years ago this month.
Retirement, though, isn't on her mind.
"I'm going to work as long as my body and mind let me," Patricia, 61, said.
Patricia said humour was a big part of her approach to nursing, especially when she worked with children.
"You've got to make them laugh and the parents feel comfortable when they're in a horrible situation," she said.
She started her career at the children's hospital in Camperdown, but mostly worked as a paediatric nurse at the Mater and John Hunter hospitals in Newcastle.
She's now a manager in a nursing home and has been in aged care since 2006.
"As a child I wanted to be a nurse or a teacher," she said.
"At the time you had to pay to go to teacher's college, or I could start as a student nurse and get paid as an 18-year-old straight out of school. That's what I wanted."
She recalled her first pay packet was $111 a fortnight. She felt rich.
"Having said that, no one really becomes a nurse for the money," she said.
Asked what she had learnt about humanity in her career, she said: "Every human has the same basic needs".
"No matter who you are, you need to feel safe, protected and loved. We all need good food and a roof over our heads. When those needs aren't met, that's when your world falls apart, whoever you are.
"A big part of being a nurse is looking after people when they're sick and promoting good health to prevent people getting sick."
Asked what she had learnt in her career about bureaucracy, she said: "There is far too much of it. It gets in the way of a lot of things and makes life unnecessarily difficult.
"If I was queen of the health department it would be a lot more simple," she quipped.
Patricia believes it's important to look after your health, but says "you've got to have fun, too".
Nonetheless, she said nursing was a "bloody hard job", especially during the pandemic.
"It's been bloody awful," she said.
Seeing nursing home residents having to isolate in their rooms when COVID emerged was tough.
"Imagine your grandmother or grandfather unable to leave their room for two or three weeks at a time. It was heartbreaking. It wasn't right on any level."
Patricia seeks to turn around the notion that people "go to nursing homes to die".
"People go into our nursing home to live the rest of their life. That's our approach."
Florence Nightingale
We told Patricia that we loved the old photo of herself with her two colleagues.
"That was the only time I wore the veil. That was at the time of the phasing out of the veil," she said.
She said the veil was a "historic thing that probably goes back to the day when nurses were part of religious orders".
The veil made her think of Florence Nightingale, who had "a no-nonsense approach to nursing".
"She promoted things like fresh air and sunshine and a good healthy diet. She knew what she was talking about."
A Nurse Joke
I had to take my son to the hospital after he swallowed two 10 cent pieces. He was rushed to surgery.
I spotted a nurse and asked how he was. She said, "there's no change yet".
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
