A DISTRICT nurse from the Ruthin and Corwen team has retired after a 49 year career that saw her deal with everything from a pandemic to the effects of war.
Beverley Edwards considered her career as a nurse a privilege as she signed off just shy of her half-century, having taken up nursing in 1975.
There were tears as Beverley was given a fitting send-off by colleagues in the Ruthin and Corwen district nursing team, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Chair Dyfed Edwards and Deputy Executive Director of Nursing Chris Lynes.
"I feel quite privileged and honoured to have been part of people's lives," she said. "I've got some lovely memories and people are so grateful for you."
After becoming a State Enrolled Nurse in training at Wrexham in 1975 Beverley went on to work for 12 months in the city’s old War Memorial Hospital on Grosvenor Road.
However, in 1980 she decided to take up a long-held wish to join the forces.
"I didn't want to go into the Army,” she revealed. "It was between the Navy and the Air Force. I didn't like the hats the Navy nurses wore so I went for the RAF."
During her four-and-a-half years in Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service she worked at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire.
It was there she would witness injuries which had a profound effect on her, as casualties from the Falklands War conflict returned from the South Atlantic for treatment.
"We did have patients from the Falklands in the hospital we were in. We had the Gurkhas and I do have memories of horrific burns. Going down to reception in the morning, you could hear them screaming in pain while they were having a shower and dressings. It's something you can't forget."
Beverley returned to work in Llangollen and Cefn Mawr district nursing team, where she gained her Specialist Practice Qualification as a District Nurse.
In 2010 she became a case load holder within the Corwen district nursing team, before retiring - and quickly returning - in 2018.
Since 2019 Beverley has worked in the Ruthin and Corwen team, including through the Covid pandemic, but has vowed to hang up her fob watch for good this time.
She still had some words of advice for those young nurses following in her footsteps.
"You've got to look at it as a privilege to look after each person," she said. "You're a part of what's going on in their life. I think you've just got to look at the work with a positive attitude, really.
"You’ve got to be caring. You've got to be passionate about the job - have some compassion - and you know, just listen to them.
"Patients are people at the end of the day. You've got to listen to what they say, what they want. Communication is a big, a big part of being a good nurse."
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