News

Local Nurse remembers Doctor arriving on horseback

19th January, 2011

"One of my fondest memories working as a nurse at the hospital was watching Mr. Lewis arrive on horseback to visit his patients, he was a real character and a gentlemen of the hospital. I remember one of my first jobs when I first started out as a District Nurse was lighting a fire for a woman so she could cook for the day, these were the sorts of things we had to do back then," said Mrs. Yvonne Byron of East Grampians Health Service.

Mrs. Byron still enjoys nursing after 39 years of service to the hospital, she stated that "there have been a lot of changes over the years at the hospital and we all should be very proud of the hospital we have today."

Mrs. Byron started her nursing career in 1962 at the age of 17 in which she had to board at the hospital as part of her training. She said "I was a little bit naïve back then and we sure got up to some mischief whilst boarding at the Nurses Home. We were all so very close, almost like sisters, it was an important and memorable part of my life."

"The Hospital has a come a long way over the years since I first started in nursing. The current daily duties of a nurse are more about technical procedures and client assessments, which is what I enjoy about nursing these days. In the earlier years, nursing used to be more about hygiene and cleaning procedure, this is a task in which Personal Carers support nursing staff now. Computers have changed nursing work dramatically, computers make it much easier for data collection and storage of information, which has reduced the amount of paper we use today" she said.

Mrs. Byron commented that "she really enjoys being a nurse and mixing with clients and patients on a day to day basis which makes her job so enjoyable. Most of all she enjoys her family, her grandchildren, the Essendon Football Club and the odd bit of chocolate, in which she confesses to being a chocaholic."