About 30 former and present nurses gathered on the verandah of Bingara Community Hospital last Monday morning to celebrate International Nurses’ Day.
It was the last such gathering on the verandah, as when the new MPS is completed in a couple of months, the old hospital will be demolished to make way for the new ambulance station.
Current and former nurses at Monday’s brunch: At the front: Noelene Cronin, Elizabeth Kakoschke, Helen Cornish, Diane O’Brien, Sue Mack Selena Mahoney, Beryl Withers. Second row: Wendy Reading (a ring in, she trained and worked at St. Vincents), Elizabeth Carter, Jane Bilsborough, Joyce Bowman, Helen Otter, Debbie Armstrong. Third row: Judy Abra, Valda McKenzie, Tiffany Galvin, Betty Lanagan, June ritter, Sharon Price.
Behind them are: Zel Withers, Sue Dufty, Claudette Nicolle, Marie Lanagan, Vicki Newton, Angela Stones, Megan Simpson, Penny turner, Pixie Galvin, Jan Baldock, and Jeanette Mitchell.
Former nurse, Hazel Currell, who worked at Bingara hospital in 1928, was an apology for the morning tea. Nurses who worked at Bingara in the 1940s and 50s brought with them photographs of their time at the hospital, and reminisced about the days when babies were delivered, and operations carried out in Bingara.
Nurse Manager, Sue Mack, lead tours of the new hospital facility, which seemed to meet with the approval of the former staffers.
International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 12 to coincide with the birthday of nursing pioneer, Florence Nightingale.
