You may have seen on our social media, that we shared a special Sunday Story highlighting Agnes, our esteemed Ward Manager. Here's her wonderful story below if you didn't catch it.
"Hi, my name is Agnes, Ward Manager at LOROS, and I’ve been working as a nurse here for 20 years."
"My journey into nursing is quite a funny story. Growing up, there wasn’t one specific career route I wanted to pursue, and I was open to exploring different options. That changed when I met my husband; he always had great respect for nurses. So, when I was his girlfriend, he said, ‘would you become a nurse?’ When I asked him why, he said, 'you're so caring, and you love people; it would be perfect for you.' I gave it some thought and decided to give it a chance - and that was my introduction to nursing."
“I originally come from Southern Africa, Zimbabwe. I trained and worked there in different areas, but in my last years, I worked at a local hospice. I learned that hospice care was my passion. So, when I came over to this country, I didn't think I wanted to do anything else apart from doing what I enjoyed most.”
“In Zimbabwe, I was a community nurse, which meant a lot of time traveling to different locations and not as much time with the patients. When I came to LOROS in 2003, I wasn’t familiar with the local area, so I joined as a nurse on the unit. On the unit, I just know everything is there. The patients are there; you see the same faces; there's continuity - That's amazing.”
“In the 20 years that I’ve been working at LOROS, one significant change that I’ve witnessed is the difference in patients’ criteria. Originally, we would only care for end-of-life patients within the last few days of their lives, whereas now we look after patients for much longer with different conditions - we have opened up our doors to so much more people.”
“Just like all nurses, I started as a band 5 nurse. However, over the years, as you rise through the ranks, naturally you move further away from the patients. So, I spent lots of years not even applying for any position because I didn't want to leave bedside nursing. But then after 20 years, you've got to, you can't avoid it. Now I create the time with the patients, when the ward needs an extra hand, I’m always there to help wash or feed - when you're a nurse, you’re always a nurse.”
“My time at LOROS, I’ve had some amazing experiences, from witnessing patients renew their vows in the hospice, to helping to organize a pony visit, to traveling to Malawi. I was lucky enough to travel to Malawi supporting in fact-finding for the LOROS twin hospice. I was there for 12 days all by myself, and it was an amazing experience!”
“What’s kept me here for so long is the ethos of the organization. LOROS loves people, and its drive is to give the best care it can. Alongside the people I work with, they are all so motivated, and we keep each other going. Also, the feedback that you get from the patients, from families, relatives sending cards, emails and other things, it motivates because they're just so grateful and I want to be the reason to make people smile.”
“To anyone considering nursing, I would say to know why you're doing what you're doing. You’re not doing nursing for the money - which yes, everyone needs money, but it’s the compassion. You can’t equate the love and care that you give to what you are paid – It can never be enough.”
