Page 20 - QARANC Vol 20 No 2 2022

20 The Gazette QARANC Association
‘Florence Nightingale showed
us the way during the pandemic’
On 11 May, I had the unique opportunity to attend the Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service at London’s Westminster Abbey. What a proud day to be a nurse and moreover a defence nurse; representing my unit 204 (North Irish) Field Hospital.
On the Eve of 202nd anniversary of Florence’s birth (12 May 1820) the service commemorated her life and work, celebrating nursing, midwifery and staff working within those professions, including healthcare assistants.
This was a first in many aspects; the first time donning No 2 dress and first- time attending Westminster Abbey. The journey to London was in the middle of a busy week of NHS nursing shifts, and the whirlwind trip made it a far from a typical week.
Making our way to the abbey by black taxi and proudly in uniform, we were relieved that the heavy rain had stopped by the time we arrived, and we were able to take full advantage of the photos.
The service gave an opportunity to reflect on over two years of working with and dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic across our globe. It was conducted by the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster and sung by the Westminster Abbey Special Service Choir.
The order of service was spectacular with a variety of hymns, reflections, biblical readings, rolls of honour and of course the procession of the
(L–R) Maj J Gilpin, Cpl Amy Bryce, Maj Jo Tams Gregg, Maj Gaby Smyth 204 FD Hospital
lamp during which the band played Londonderry Air.
Florence Nightingale became known as “the lady with the lamp” during her work in the Crimea and the lamp has become an international symbol for nursing. After the lamp was placed on the high altar the Dean read: “Jesus said ‘like the lamp, you must shed light among your fellows, so that, when they see the good you do, they may give praise to your father in heaven” St Matthew 5:16.
I joined the Army Reserve four years ago and qualified as a staff nurse one year later. It was during my time in the emergency department in Belfast that the pandemic arrived in Northern Ireland. I remember the very first case as I was the nurse who swabbed that individual patient. I recalled that experience during the service and reflected on my actions that day of how I shed light, on not just the patient in giving them hope and reassurance for
the future in a very uncertain time; but my colleagues and friends who were experiencing this pandemic and had no idea of what lay ahead.
The Abbey highlighted the acoustics of the choir, exaggerated the significance of the procession of nurses carrying this symbolic lamp and amplified the importance of the address by the right reverend and the right honourable Lord Sentamu on love and light.
We meandered slowly when leaving the Abbey taking in every glimpse of the architecture, meeting familiar faces, and soaking up the experience to its fullest.
I left London to resume my working week with a renewed sense of pride as a defence nurse and a cherished memory in uniform at the Abbey.
Cpl Amy Bryce
204 (North Irish) Field Hospital Belfast, Northern Ireland