Mediclinic Newcastle nurses honoured at International Nurse’s Day celebration

On May 12, South Africa celebrated International Nurses Day, which is celebrated worldwide each year to commemorate the birth of Florence Nightingale.

This year, the day was celebrated under the theme Nurses: A Voice to lead – Health is a human right.

As part of the day’s activities, Mediclinic Newcastle held a function on May 11 to celebrate the unsung heroes of the hospital, while looking back at the triumphs and tribulations of the past year.

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“Mediclinic Newcastle employs around 200 nurses, and we celebrate this day each year to give thanks to these men and women. They give a lot of themselves to the hospital, sacrificing precious time they could spend with their own families, but they always do it with love, dedication and care, which is why it is important to us to show our gratitude to them,” said Colleen Schoeman, Human Resource Manager at Mediclinic Newcastle.

The hospital management also used the opportunity to hand out the annual Nursing Excellence Award, and this year Lixon Thomas was the recipient for his contribution to nursing throughout the year.

According to Mariette Classen, Patient Experience Manager at Mediclinic Newcastle, this year the hospital took the time out to recognise each nurse who had chosen a specific direction in the field of patient care.

“At Mediclinic Newcastle, we recognise Lixon Thomas, senior professional nurse, as the annual Nursing Excellence Award recipient in recognition of the dedication he invests into caring for his patients and supporting his colleagues. The award is significant because nominations are made by nursing peers who work tirelessly alongside each other, ensuring the best possible patient outcome.”

Thomas has been with Mediclinic Newcastle for six years and works in the surgical ward.

He was selected as the 2018 award winner because of his dedication to patients, attention to detail and ability to empathise with patients, Classen concluded.

To celebrate the award, it has become tradition for the hospital staff to light a few ceremonial candles to honour nurses for their outstanding knowledge, physical strength, commitment, courage, empathy and compassion.
These traits, according to Matron, Yvonne Combrinck, are what make Mediclinic Newcastle’s nurses some of the best in the country.

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Mediclinic Newcastle not only celebrated the day with their nurses, but also used the opportunity to say farewell to Freddie Meiring, long-serving hospital manager.

Meiring, who will be retiring at the end of the year, praised the nurses and thanked them for contributing to the success of the hospital over the past years.

“Nurses may only be in your lives for a short while, but the impact they have last a lifetime,” he said.

He concluded his thoughts with a quote from Albert Pine, a character from the popular TV series, Criminal Minds: “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains, and is, immortal.”

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