Celebrating nurses: the backbone of our health system

Guest speakers shared insights into their own roles, and stories of how other nurses and midwives have shaped their lives.

Hunter New England Health executive director clinical services, nursing and midwifery Elizabeth Grist told the crowd about her first memory of a nurse making a difference in her life.

She said when she was a child in England, her family was visited by a Call The Midwife-esque health worker on a bicycle ahead of her little brother's birth.

"We were all a little bit anxious because we didn't know what was happening to mum and we were a little bit scared, and the minute that nurse/midwife walked into the door there was a sense of calm and a feeling that everything was going to be okay," she said.

"Whilst I don't remember verbatim everything that she said or did, I do remember how she made us all feel."

Ms Grist said the importance of nurses and midwives can't be understated.

"Today I wanted to really express my gratitude and thanks to all of the nurses and midwives of the district and there are almost 12,000 nurses and midwives," she said.

"I can't really tell you how high I regard the work that you do.

"You're there all the time, caring for our community, caring for each other and I think that that's just the most amazing thing."

International Nurse's Day is celebrated every May 12 on founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale's birthday, and International Day of the Midwife is celebrated every May 5.

Maitland Hospital clinical nurse consultant and cancer care coordinator Mel Agland was one of the speakers at the event, and her work involves providing care and to support to patients with cancer.

She said she wanted to be a nurse to help the wider community.

"I thought the role of nursing was diverse and could provide a lot of different opportunities and a lot of room for growth, so that led me to doing a traineeship and here I am now in a CNC role so that's exciting," she said.

Maitland Hospital clinical nurse specialist acute pain service vascular access team Belinda Mikaelian has started a vascular access team at the hospital.

She said she became a nurse as it suited her nature and comes with a lot of opportunities.

"I enjoy the autonomy of the position, I think it's a nice place to be able to find your way of doing things and there's lots of opportunities," she said.

"You could do anything outside of this, you could branch a little bit more into a different type of vascular access for example and it just really is meeting lots of different people, you're able to make changes and you can see the changes happening in front of you and it seems to make a difference so people are really grateful for the care that you give and that gives you a good feeling to walk away with."