Page 28 - QARANC Vol 14 No 11 2015

26 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Royal College of Nursing Northern
Ireland Nurse of the Year Awards
2015
Since the launch of the Royal College of Nursing Defence Nursing Network in Northern Ireland in June 2014, the College have been working closely with Defence Nurses in the province. The college has strengthened the voice of military nursing throughout the province and have continued to provide professional support to all defence nurses working in Northern Ireland.
This year some of us had the opportunity to attend the Royal College of Nursing Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year awards, which were held on 21 May 2015 at the Culloden Hotel, Holywood, Co Down. It was a high profile evening and a very special evening for all nurses in Northern Ireland.
For the first time ever we were invited to attend in our uniform, and we took up the opportunity to show off what the “grey mafia” had to reveal. This was a first for military nurses to attend such a large gathering of nursing
Pictured L – R: Col Professor Martin Bradley (Hon Col 204 Field Hospital), Maj Gaby Smyth (RCN DNN lead, Nursing Officer 204 Field Hospital), Col Mark Sheridan (CO 204 Field Hospital), Lt Col Joy McGrath (OC Clin 204 Field Hospital), Maj Kerry McFadden–Newman (RNO 204 Field Hospital), Col Hubert McAlister (Chairman RFCA NI), Lt Col Chris Clarke (OC Nursing 204 Field Hospital), Capt James Stoddart (Adjt 204 Field Hospital).
colleagues in Northern Ireland wearing military uniforms and given the history in Northern Ireland you can imagine some of us were slightly apprehensive. However we arrived safely in numbers and the red jackets were a hit with all of our colleagues throughout the whole
evening, and some of whom were intrigued of who we were!! So it proved to be a very worthwhile evening, both in promoting our presence and normalising our existence within the nursing community in Northern Ireland. Maj Gaby Smyth
Ex ROTTEN TOMATOES
Comic Relief this year was on Friday 13 March, unlucky for some but proved lucky for the Command team who had a temporary stay of execution from their dousing for 48 hours. We decided that the best way to ‘do something funny for money’ was to cover the command team with red food stuffs, with the muckiness of the contents proportional to the amount of money raised.
Helped substantially by DMD’s parents (thanks Robert and Wendy!) we easily exceeded £250 in initial donations to ensure that the command team got all the muck on Sunday 15 March. Not just tomatoes and baked beans, but golden syrup and chilies too! Lovely.
On the night, SNO and CO tried to pull a fast one by missing the bus to get them back to Benguema. They weren’t getting away with it that easily... There was fevered competition to donate money to pour the buckets over SNO, DMD and CO. First up was SNO. Bravely risking their Op Insert slips, Kim Grimard and Vicki Gillespie-Jones bid highest for the honours. With no hesitation they covered our SNO, from whom a little yelp escaped and then her signature
chuckle. Next in the firing line was DMD. Maintaining a Zen-like facade pre-dousing, he faced adversity (highest bidder Col Alison) with courage.Col Alison took great pleasure in pouring the contents over him, knowing that she was up next. Finally, CO took the ‘hot’ seat. Unlike SNO and DMD, she had had the good sense to take her boots off and replace them with flip flops. A three way bid from SQ, SSM and OpsO was successful and the CO was covered by SQ and SSM. Lt Col Alison maintained a serene smile throughout. I’m told that the Command team found baked beans in places where baked beans don’t normally go...
On a more serious note, although healthcare energy and attention is being used to concentrate on fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone, malaria remains an ongoing problem in the country. Although Ebola has killed over 3,000 in Sierra Leone during this epidemic, each year malaria kills 4,000. We managed to raise £622 for Comic Relief, which supports World Malaria Day on 25 April, and the money you have donated will help the continuing fight
against malaria. Thanks guys. You’re amazing!
Lt Col Anne Phillips RAMC, KTTU ETC, Sierra Leone