A lot has changed since those early years, but what remains the same is the enjoyment Helene gets from her contact with patients on a daily basis. 

Helene, a registered nurse, finished her 50-year career at the Bathurst Private Hospital last week. Her last shift was on Friday afternoon.

Hailing from Bathurst, after completing her schooling, Helene decided she wanted to study away from home and went to Rachael Forster Hospital in Sydney, followed by a stint at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

She went into nursing because it was a “good solid career”, and there were many opportunities to diversify.

“It sort of just happened,” she said about how she became a nurse. 

“I finished school and I went to Sydney, I eventually came back to Bathurst, working at the Bathurst District Hospital.

“After this I went overseas and worked for a nursing agency in London and also travelled around on a working holiday. It was great fun.”

Returning to Australia, Helene went back to the district hospital, where she worked on and off for 20 years.

“I went away for a while and then came back to the District Hospital for three years, got married and had two children,” she said. “For the past 35 years I was nursing again, originally at Bathurst District Hospital where I worked night shift before coming to [now defunct] St Vincent's Hospital 21 years ago.”

Helene said out of all the nursing disciplines she enjoys surgical and orthopaedic nursing the most.

“I think I just find it interesting. I do a mix of both here [at Bathurst Private] so it’s the best of both worlds.”

She said so much had changed over the years.

“But you just evolve and go with it,” she said.

“Computers changed the profession a lot, but as we are a smaller concern here we are less computerised, which I enjoy because it means I get more time with patients.”

In fact, it was the ability to spend more time with her charges that brought her to St Vincent's 21 years ago.

“I took the position because I wanted to be more hands on,” she said.

“I love hands on nursing. I’m far less interested in administration. When I came here I really found I had a lot more interaction with the patients and it has been great.”

She said the nurses at Bathurst Private Hospital pride themselves on the quality of care provided to their patients.

“It’s good nursing care, we do the best of our capabilities,” she said.

Reflecting on her early career, Helene laughed as she recalled how nurses used to make enemas with Sunlight soap.

“And we all had to ball up our own bandages,” she said.

“There have been a lot of changes with sterilisation; obviously these days everything is just used once and disposed of, which is great. Back when I started we used to have glass syringes which we had to soak.

“We had metal trays and everything went in there with boiling water, that’s just how it was done back then.

“You would soak them, wash them with hot soapy water and put it in some type of solution, these days it’s a lot easier.

“Just use it and discard it. The disposable era is much easier on nurses.” 

And, as she finished her last shift, Helene said while she is looking forward to the next phase of her life, she will definitely miss work.

“What I will miss are my colleagues and patients. Bathurst Private is literally the best place to work in the world,” she said.

“Everyone has been asking me what I will do in retirement but I think I will just see what happens. George [her husband] and I have started painting the house, so that will keep me busy for the moment,” she laughed.

“Someone said to me I will have to go shopping and buy clothes because I’m either in my nurse’s uniform or pyjamas, and that’s pretty true,” she said.

“It’s a bit surreal, but at 67 it’s time to go. 

“I think I’d like to do some more travelling, spend time with the grandchildren, and just see where life takes me.

“I’d also like to socialise. Working night shift for so long, I’ve had no social life, so I’m going to start going to parties,” she laughed.