The 12th of May marks International Nurses Day in honour of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale who was born on that day 200 years ago this year but also to mark the enormous contribution that nurses globally make to the health and welfare of our societies.
Lyn Brett has been a nurse at GV Health for fifteen years and having worked through a number of roles throughout her career, is now the Transition to Practice Coordinator, a role that sees her guiding others through the different avenues of nursing.
“It is the best job in the world,” said Lyn. “If you think about it, nurses are a part of a person’s whole life, from the first cry they make as an infant through to their last breath before they depart this life. They are present at life’s most precious moments and some of the most tragic. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
The new extensions now taking place at GV Health will create an enormous demand on new nurses taking up a career in nursing over the next several years. La Trobe University and GOTAFE both offer pathways to nursing.
The present pandemic has, by and large, missed the Goulburn Valley with only nine cases in the region and only two of them requiring hospitalisation, largely through the admirable response to isolation the public has followed. But in the situation where this is not the case, it is the nurses around the world who are at the forefront of treating those affected as it would have been here under different circumstances.
The fact is that very few people understand the breadth of roles and responsibilities of modern nurses, and that means they do not truly appreciate the outstanding value of nursing to every person on the planet.
Nurses serve humanity and, by their actions, they protect the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and nations. It is for that reason, we should continuously recognise their amazing and selfless contributions to the world around them.
