The Road to my Occupational Health profession

I haven't mentioned it very much in my previous blog pages, but my profession, how I got here, my current job and my team colleagues definitely deserve a mention, so here goes.

I entered nursing as a mature student - 32 if I remember rightly. We had returned from Swaziland with the intention of gaining some qualifications and then going back. I had a desire to go into nursing, but only had two O'levels and some RSAs from college. So I applied for an auxiliary post at York and was successful. I absolutely loved it, Matron was strict, but really helped me to get a feel of nursing. Every Christmas I would work the main shift and Graham would bring the children onto the ward and we sang and played for the patients, in return for Christmas dinner.

After a year I applied to take the 'direct entry' exam, a route that is no longer available and I was successful. My three year training was at the York Hospital and Graham took on the role of 'house husband', something that didn't go down well with his Mum who felt that it was the man's job to go out to work. I loved the training as it was then, two weeks in school and six weeks out on the wards, where you were counted as a number and got stuck in with the basic cares, as well as watching relevant procedures.

The three years went quickly and I passed the final with flying colours. I'll never forget the day the postman came to our humble council house with my results. We all screamed so loudly and jumped up and down, Graham ran after the postman and gave him £5, I bet he's still wondering what he did to deserve it. It was the best feeling in the world.

I worked at York for quite few years on various wards, mostly elderly which I really enjoyed and it gave me a real all round knowledge of medicine and surgery. At some point I decided I needed to exercise my brain again and I applied for a BSc in 'Special Nursing Studies' at Hull. York NHS agreed to fund this and I started a four year course, part time. Unfortunately a year into this my Dad developed some strange symptoms and within a few months died from a brain tumor. This had a profound effect on me and I struggled through the remainder of the course. But, at least I did finish it and again I can only say how fantastic it felt at the Graduation, especially having my Mum and family there to share the day.

The next few years I'm going to miss, partly because I don't want to send you to sleep, but partly because they're not years I care to think about too deeply. Suffice to say that I went into private care, first as a Deputy Matron and then as Matron. I put my heart and soul into the latter, but greedy, dishonest owners made this part of my life a nightmare.

Having been made redundant I registered with an agency in York and accepted work whenever or wherever it happened to be. I even helped out in the office a few times, and it was on one of these occasions that a call came in from Nestle Rowntree York. They needed a nurse for night time cover, emergencies, audios etc. I volunteered my services, not really knowing what to expect and this was the start of my road into Occupational Health.