42 years of nursing and counting

11 May 2018

Cheryl’s life as a nurse started in 1972 when she moved into the nurse’s quarters at Fremantle Hospital.

Cheryl said that while the transition to the rigid expectation of life in nursing quarters was hard for some, she fit right in after growing up on a sheep and cattle station and spending eight years at boarding school.

Her initial training was quite different than the university course of today.

“We did six weeks in the classroom and then it was straight on the wards,” Cheryl said.

“Our work as junior nurses involved giving out pans and drinks every two hours, then collecting and cleaning them.

“We handed out meals dished by the charge nurse, cleaned lockers, made beds and bathed most patients after lunch. Accurate fluid balance and clinical charts were the extent of our paper work.”

As a second year nurse, Cheryl was responsible for caring for up to 20 patients during a night shift with a night supervisor and a floating staff nurse.

After training, she landed her first job at St John of God Geraldton Hospital.

“I was the only full time registered nurse at the hospital, and with only a handful of patients it was vastly different to my training,” she said.

She then stayed in Geraldton, but moved to the public hospital, and then after a short sabbatical where she married (she had her wedding photos on the grounds of the public hospital) and had two children, she returned to nursing.

“Over the years I have worked at Kalamunda community, Port Hedland community, Karratha, Broome, Marble Bar and Darwin private hospitals,” she said.

“I came back to St John of God Geraldton Hospital in 2003, and while retirement is a word being thrown around, I hope to continue on for a couple more years and ease out gently."