By Derek Schlennstedt
May 12 is internationally recognised as the day when the work of nurses is celebrated around the world and coincides with the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale – the founder of modern nursing.
Each year the International Council of Nurses identifies a theme which in 2017 is; ‘Nurses: a voice to lead.’
One such voice that is certainly part of this theme is Sharon Matthews, Toolangi resident and nurse at Healesville Hospital.
Sharon has worked at the hospital since 1995 and first started as a midwife.
Since then, she has undertaken nursing jobs that have seen her travel across the state, but she has always come back to the community hospital that she loves.
During the Healesville Hospital’s redevelopment, Sharon undertook nursing and midwifery roles across the country, in Darwin, Kununurra, Burnie in Tasmania, Kingaroy in Queensland and Mildura.
Sharon told the Mail that working in so many different rural places was an incredible learning curve that improved her knowledge and skills, but said she still called Healesville Hospital home.
“I love the sort of nursing that we do here, and I like actually working for the local community. I think we have a really good set-up and we do a great job of providing quality care to people, and there’s a great team atmosphere here, and it’s a really good place to work,” she said.
While in Darwin and Kununurra, a lot of the cases she attended to were in relation to various tropical diseases that were extremely prevalent in the temperate weather.
The life of a nurse or midwife is constantly changing; they help people and see various different cases each day, and it is this aspect that Sharon said she loved, the changeable dynamic where, ‘no two days are the same.’
“You’re helping people and you have such a big impact on people’s lives, I like the mix of the caring and then the science, the knowing and the doing, and the fact that there’s so much variety – no two days are ever the same,” she said.
As for why she returned to Healesville Hospital after travelling the state, Sharon simply states that Healesville is good for the soul
“At the hospital, we can open the windows and have fresh air come in for the patients, and you can look out at the mountains … it’s good for the soul.”
