A NEWTOWNARDS nurse who has devoted 40 years to caring for patients is to retire this week.
Deborah Auld, better known to her patients and colleagues as ‘Nurse Debbie’, is set to retire this Friday, April 26, after four decades of continuous devotion to all her patients.
Deborah started her training in March 1984 at Ards Hospital and for the next 36 years she continued her career in Newtownards and Dundonald–based hospitals and as a district nurse in the Bangor and Newtownards area.
For the last four years, the Newtownards woman has specialised in palliative care at the Northern Ireland Hospice.
Deborah always knew she would pursue a nursing career. As a young adult she was a member of the Bangor branch of St Johns Ambulance, having been awarded a certificate at Hillsborough Castle for completing 1000 hours voluntary service.
Throughout her career she had a special interest in cancer treatment, attending courses locally and at Cambridge University to develop her expertise in the area.
Debbie found nursing to be a wonderfully rewarding career, recalling with emotion the many times she offered words of comfort to her patients. She considered it a blessing to hold hands and offer consolation to patients and relatives when tragedy hit.
Debbie ‘absolutely loved’ all her posts in the health service and latterly, the Northern Ireland Hospice. She has now decided to call it a day, giving her best years to a noble and wonderful career. She ‘never regretted a single moment’.
She of course will miss it all, especially the teamwork, her colleagues, the wonderful colleagues she worked with, but she ‘holds a special thought for all her wonderful patients’.
