Wide Bay Burnett Hospitals celebrates International Nurses Day

It’s known as one of the most caring and challenging professions. This International Nurses Day, nurses across Wide Bay Burnett have shared what they love about the job.

Four nurses from across Wide Bay Burnett are being showcased for their dedication and hardwork for this International Nurses Day on Friday, May 12.

Hospitals across the Wide Bay Burnett region are celebrating International Nurses Day.

May 12 signifies a day of thanks for all the nurses and midwives who dedicate their lives to ensuring the health care of patients worldwide.

Nurses from hospitals across the Wide Bay region are being honoured for their dedication and hard work.

Maryborough Hospital: Niby Sebastian

Niby Sebastian has worked as a nurse at Maryborough Hospital for 15 years now.

Ms Sebastian started her career at Maryborough Hospital as a nursing assistant in 2008, while completing a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Southern Queensland Fraser Coast campus.

“Once I completed my nursing degree in 2010, I secured a postgraduate position with Maryborough Hospital and I’ve been working there since,” Ms Sebastian said.

Originally from India, Ms Sebastian was already an experienced nurse and midwife before moving to Australia.

She said, being a nurse isn’t just a career for her but is the very essence of who she is.

“It fits in my character – it's just me,” she said.

While Ms Sebastian is currently working the busy role of an after-hours nurse manager, she is committed to continuing further in her studies, where she already completed a graduate diploma in clinical nursing and is currently working through her masters in healthcare leadership.

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Gympie Hospital: Sharon Shelford

McGrath Breast Care clinical nurse consultant Sharon Shelford said that becoming a nurse and working in her community was her true calling.

Raised in Gympie, Mrs Shelford has worked as a nurse at Gympie Hospital for 41 years.

When she was 17 years old, Mrs Shelford moved into the nurses’ quarters at Gympie Hospital and lived there for three years while she completed her training.

“At that time, I had my heart set on heading to the ‘big smoke’ of Brisbane and working in Paediatric Oncology, but life had other plans,” Mrs Shelford said.

“During my training I met my husband at a local pub. We got talking, we got married and we are still married all these years later.

“He was a Brisbane boy, and he didn’t want to go back to Brisbane, so we ended up settling down in Gympie.”

Mrs Shelford started her career in the wards at Gympie Hospital, then moved into paediatrics, and later oncology, before being appointed the role of Clinical Nurse Consultant Breast Care Nurse, 12 years ago.

Sharon Shelford in her early nursing days.

Bundaberg Hospital: Jarrod Trudgeon

While Jarrod Trudgeon loves his job as an after-hours nurse manager at Bundaberg Hospital, he said nursing was a pathway he didn’t envision taking as a child.

“I never saw myself as a nurse growing up, that wasn‘t part of my plan or what I wanted to be when I was a kid,” he said.

“I managed to fall into it, and I‘ve loved it ever since. I knew within the first six months of doing it at university that’s what I wanted to do as a career.”

Jarrod started his studies in psychology at the University of Newcastle before switching into nursing, hoping that he would end up practising in the mental health field.

“I thought I was going down the mental health route and I enjoyed it, but not as much as I thought I would – so I thought I’d try clinical style nursing for a while and I just fell in love with it,” he said.

Before his current role, Mr Trudgeon worked for many years as a clinical-based nurse, specialising in a variety of areas, such as mental health, ICU and surgical.

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Kingaroy Hospital: Trudy Bell

Trudy Bell knew from a young age she wanted to work in a caring role.

The nurse of 33 years now works as a nurse unit manager renal services and ambulatory care at Kingaroy Hospital.

Starting her nursing career as a nursing assistant in 1990, Ms Bell moved her way up the ladder taking on the role of an endorsed enrolled nurse, then became a registered nurse in 2001.

Since 2001, Ms Bell has specialised in renal nursing.

“In 2006, I moved to QLD from Grafton, NSW and worked as a Renal Clinical Specialist for Fresenius Medical Care (a private dialysis company),” she said.

“Two years later, I became the State Manager of the Private Renal Clinics at Fresenius Medical Care, and stayed there until 2018, where I went off to work for another private clinic, BBraun between 2019 and 2022.”