HEALTHCARE provider Bellarine Community Health is honouring a cherished team member who retired last week after half a century of dedicated nursing service to the community.<\/p>\n
Barb Wiltshire, 68, has hung up her uniform after a 50-year career as a nurse that saw her work in hospitals, aged care, medical clinics and, for the last 15 years, community health at BCH.<\/p>\n
The community health model \u2013 which she says places importance on building relationships with clients \u2013 is one she believes in strongly.
\n\u201cPeople heal 100 per cent better at home than in the hospital,\u201d Ms Wiltshire said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that first visit, they feel safe with us. They come out of hospital, and they\u2019re stressed or not eating or sleeping properly, and we can provide reassurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is challenging and varied work, but Ms Wiltshire knows she will miss it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the variety of being a community nurse because we have to have every skill. We do palliative care, we give medication, support people with showering, deal with complex dressings and wounds, and IV monitoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day you get thrown something different, and you think \u2018Oh, what am I going to do here?\u2019 It makes it interesting, and I will miss that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pursuing her childhood dream of working with babies and young children, Wiltshire begun her nursing career in 1975 at the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital, completing a four-year training course, before making the transition into general nursing.<\/p>\n
As she steps into retirement, she says it is the relationships she has built, particularly those with BCH\u2019s supportive nursing team, many of whom she has mentored, that will be the hardest to let go.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur nursing here at Bellarine Community Health is one of the best you can get,\u201d Ms Wiltshire said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBCH nurses are very supportive of each other. Nothing\u2019s too much trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will miss the company of all the nursing team at BCH because I just love them, and I will miss my clients because there\u2019s a few that I have been looking after for quite a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t realise how important you are to these people, because you are chatting to them the whole time you are with them, and you develop a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labelling it \u201cthe end of an era\u201d, BCH thanked Wiltshire for her expertise and \u201cwarm, compassionate approach to nursing\u201d, and wished her a \u201cwell-deserved and joyful retirement\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarb brings wisdom, warmth, and a great sense of humour to everything she does,\u201d community nursing and palliative care manager Jacob Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been a huge support to so many of us, and she\u2019s told me just how much she values being part of this team, which she called the most supportive and wonderful group she\u2019s worked with. High praise from someone with a career as long and meaningful as hers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HEALTHCARE provider Bellarine Community Health is honouring a cherished team member who retired last week after half a century of dedicated nursing service to the community. Barb Wiltshire, 68, has hung up her uniform after a 50-year career as a nurse that saw her work in hospitals, aged care, medical clinics and, for the last […]<\/p>\n