Page 15 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

The Gazette QARANC Association 13
So, her time on the COVID-19 frontline is not her first experience putting herself at risk to care for others as she has spent time nursing in war zones around the world.
As far back as she can remember, Marie wanted to be a nurse. Her mum had never completed her training and was happy for her daughter to take on the mantle. Beginning her nursing career in the 1970s means that Marie comes from the era where the matron ruled the hospital. She explained:
‘I was one of the last crowd to do the entrance exam for nursing. I lived in Musson House at the Royal Victoria Hospital when I started out and it was definitely hard at the beginning as it was during the height of the Troubles. It was scary but I managed with the help of everyone else, we were all in the same boat I suppose. I loved every minute of my training, it was totally different in those days – it wasn’t academic nursing that it is now, it was very hands on. I actually got married while I was training, which was unheard of in those days, and I had to ask for permission. Our crowd actually set a bit of a trend as there were about three or four of us got married during training. I’ll always remember the first patient I ever inserted a nasogastric tube, I know his name, and I remember removing my first one as well. In those days, everything had to be done in a certain way, the way things were folded, corners, everything was tidy. We did six weeks in different wards, I started out in a surgical ward, then a medical ward, then you did time in theatres and A&E’.
After she qualified, Marie remained at the Royal but once she became a mum, she discovered that night shifts suited the family better and she took up a job in a nursing home. She also
found she enjoyed working in the care home environment and the challenge of ensuring residents enjoyed a home from home environment.
‘It was like something you would want for your parents or grandparents and we tried to make it the best we could’, she explained.
‘I started out at a home part-time and ended up managing it. While I was there, I joined the Army Reserve, it’s something I had always wanted to do but it had never happened. Then an inspector came to the home one day and he was a bit early so we sat down to have a cup of coffee and the Army Reserve came up and I said I would love to that but I was 41 and I was too old. He told me I wasn’t, his wife was in it and he got my name and number and passed it on and the next thing I had joined up. I joined in 2001 and I was deployed to Iraq in 2003 just before the war started. It was the fear of the unknown that I was most worried about, at that time there was the nuclear scare and we didn’t know there wasn’t any. I didn’t really know what to expect, I was away for three months and we built our own field hospital. It was a 100-bed hospital built out of tents, there were so many people so it took a few days but it was quite basic – we made bed screens out of aprons’.
Marie spent her time in Iraq working on an infection control ward, looking after soldiers, many of whom arrived in suffering from norovirus. The accommodation she stayed in was as basic as the hospital and she shared a tent with nine other people. However, she forged life-long friendships, although she admits it was a relief when she finally returned home.
‘I didn’t know how long I was going to be away for and I was scared before I left but once I got my head around it happening, I was determined to go’, she said.
‘I did two tours in Afghanistan as well, in 2008 and 2013. It was totally different to Iraq as we were working in a stable building and it was very busy the first time and quieter the second time I was there. It didn’t feel as safe, but it was fine. I would absolutely recommend it to any nurse or doctor or physiotherapist, or any medical professional, because there is such comradeship and it’s a wonderful experience. Ian was absolutely fantastic every time I went away, he knows what I’m like and he just rolls
his eyes, he’s absolutely superb. He knows I love a challenge’.
‘I broke my knee cap in 1996 in a car accident and I had to have it wired together. Then I slipped and had to have it done again and they told me I would never run again. I liked that challenge so I actually ended up taking up running and doing six or seven marathons. I did my first one in London and I did it for the children’s hospice, so I had decided beforehand that even if I had to walk it, I was going to get around. I managed to complete it in four hours, 27 minutes and I got faster after that. I did Dublin a couple of times and Ian and I did one in Barbados, which was definitely the hardest because of the heat’.
After 17 years working in the care home sector, Marie decided it was time for a change and she began working in an adult centre. She also spent time working in a number of wards in Antrim Area Hospital and in the community before she retired at 61. While she has had to give up running due to her knee, she remains active and now spends her spare time spinning and cycling. Of course, there hasn’t been much of that since coming out of retirement but her priority in recent months has been to keep the residents in her care as safe and comfortable as possible.
‘The care homes need our help and I’m quite happy to help and I’m working whatever they need at the moment, although I will be quite happy to slip away again once it’s all over’, she added.
Written by journalist Lisa Smyth
Previously published in the Belfast Telegraph 18.08.20 and reprinted with permission