News

Serving it up for International Nurses' Day

Tue, 19 May 2020 04:05:00

IT wasn’t quite breakfast in bed, but more than 300 hot bacon and egg rolls were delivered to nurses and midwives across Mildura Base Hospital early Tuesday morning to celebrate International Nurses Day.

The annual act of kindness recognised the incredible work that our nurses and midwives do every day in a diverse range of settings.
“The work of dedicated nurses and midwives has been absolutely crucial to supporting our hospital and our community to respond to COVID-19,” Mildura Base Hospital’s Director of Nursing, Janet Hicks said.
“While we have all endured significant changes in our work and personal lives due to the pandemic, the changes required from our local health workforce has been constantly evolving, highly demanding, and our nurses and midwives have responded with professionalism, care and compassion.”
Nurses and midwives have been on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19 right across the world, including at Mildura Base Hospital.
“Every nurse and midwife in our hospital has had to change the way they work and every day they face challenges associated with the pandemic, but they remain driven by their commitment to caring for people and supporting their colleagues,” Ms Hicks explained.
This year’s International Nurses Day held an extra level of significance – it occurred during the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, which was declared by the World Health Organisation in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

Regarded as the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale was a British nurse in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War. She went on to formalise nursing education and was the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit.
“None of us thought we would be celebrating this special year with a global pandemic, but this environment reminds us of the important work Florence achieved in establishing hygiene practices, which remain relevant and continue to save lives every day,” Ms Hicks said.
“Unfortunately due to social distancing restrictions, we are not able to celebrate with our colleagues in the ways we had planned, but our staff continue to support each other and our patients in new and innovative ways, which demonstrates the ever evolving professions of nursing and midwifery.”

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Pictured: Serving it up to say thank you to local nurses and midwives was Mildura Base Hospital’s Janet Hicks, Sue Hale, Lauren Cain, Kris Hobbs and Elise Elder.
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Pictured: Mildura Base Hospital’s Lauren Cain, Kris Hobbs, and Elise Elder helped serve up a hot breakfast to celebrate our local nurses and midwives on International Nurses Day.