Nurse manager clocks off

Deb Tozer bids her career in the health industry goodbye

After caring for thousands of people with serious health conditions over the past 44 years, urgent care nurse Deb Tozer retired last Friday.

Ms Tozer says being able to help people in their time of need has been rewarding over her long nursing career, including 30 with Portland District Health’s Urgent Care Centre.

“I feel blessed to have witnessed some lives enter this world and extremely privileged to have been able to care for people as they take their last breath,” she said. “In between, I’ve seen many critically ill patients that we’ve been able to help and they’ve been able to return to living their normal lives.”

The Urgent Care Centre Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) began her hospital training at Geelong Hospital in 1979.

Her nursing career included four years in theatre, but her first love remained the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) where she has spent the bulk of her career, including the past eight as the NUM.

During her time working in the UCC, Ms Tozer has seen the department grow from a single nurse per shift working in conjunction with GPs, to 3-4 nurses per shift working with emergency medicine specialists and medical officers providing a 24-hour service to the community.

Over the past decade, the number of presentations at Portland’s Urgent Care Centre has almost doubled, and there has been a similar increase in their level of acuity.

“I don’t know why that’s happened, but it’s continuously getting busier,” Ms Tozer said. “We’ve treated everything over time, from heart attacks to cuts and bruises, but there’s more now and they’re often more serious.”

She also oversaw the development of infrastructure and policies to keep staff and patients safe during the challenges of the pandemic over the past three years.

She will leave the role with good memories. “I have loved the opportunity to support staff, watching many grow from graduate nurses to taking on senior roles within the department,” she said. “I know our community is in safe hands.”

Ms Tozer said providing urgent care was a team effort. “I’ll miss friends I’ve made in all areas of the hospital, including maintenance, environmental services, stores, administration, radiology, pathology and of course nursing and medical staff.

During her career, Ms Tozer has also raised three children with husband Rob and contributed to the community in many ways, including as a Community Ambulance Officer for 15 years.

She said she planned to spend more time with her family, including travel and watching her grandchildren grow.