Happy International Nurses Day!

This past year has shown us just how lucky we are to have our amazing nurses and NHS. To celebrate nurses across the nation, we caught up with our 92-year-old customer, Grace; a retired nurse whose career spans over forty years!

Tell us about your career in nursing, Grace…

When I first went into nursing, I was around sixteen years old and it was before the NHS was established. I originally wanted to be a children’s nurse but because I was so young myself, I was nursing boys who were virtually the same age as me! So I gave that up and registered as a fever nurse with London County Council when I was 21. I lived down south at the time and I was based at Western Fever Hospital in Fulham.

At the time we were dealing with measles, typhoid, scarlet fever and I nursed through the polio epidemic – so coronavirus isn’t the first crisis I've lived through. The polio patients were so poorly. We used to put them in a device which was known as the iron lung – a sealed tank filled with oxygen which was used to help people who were having trouble breathing.

What made you decide to become a nurse…

I was in the Girl Guides and I read ‘Scouting for Boys’ which talked about nursing and that’s when I thought, nursing is for me. My mother took me to London for the interview but my step-father said to me: “If you go to London, you’ll not come back to this house again!”

They thought London was a dangerous place – but I went anyway, I was quite head strong. 

What is your most memorable nursing moment…

I am a Christian and I became involved with the WEC (World Evangelisation Crusade) which has origins in the Belgian Congo. I wanted to go to the Congo to become a missionary and but I was required to get a Belgium nursing certificate before I could go. So, I went out to Belgium but as I didn’t speak French, they thought I was a spy and they sent me back home! I had to go back to my mother’s house – that was in 1951 and the rest is history.

What an interesting life our customer Grace has led! Thank you for your service Grace and thank you to all our other wonderful nurses working hard looking after us every day.

#IND2021