Nursing graduates honoured in UHW
AARON KENT
Nurses make up the largest profession in University Hospital Waterford with almost 1,300 members.
On International Nurses Day, celebrated on May 12 to mark the birthday of Florence Nightingale, University Hospital Waterford launched a new exhibition to mark every class of nurses that have graduated through the hospital.
The exhibition runs the length of the corridor between the main building and the Dunmore Wing and represents a timeline of social and medical history as the pictures turn from black and white to bright and modern.
Director of Nursing in UHW, Niamh Sheehan, spoke to The Munster Express at the launch.
“As we go all the way up to our recent nurses, they look very different,” she said. “And I suppose that shows how nursing has progressed, how we are seen has really progressed.
“A lot of our nurses on that wall are local; everybody recognises somebody over the 68 years. It has become a focal point for the patient here too.”
She paid tribute to the Assistant Director Nora Flynn for driving the project forward, and to the vision of the Hospital CEO Ben O'Sullivan, for his vision to recognise nursing as a central workforce within the hospital.
It was explained that many of the photographs had been ‘hidden away’ in the old school of nursing, while others were sought out from external sources. Many of the images were in bad condition and it fell to Tom Quilty of Réalta to restore and reframe them.
Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts looks to bring art and the arts into healthcare settings to increase the quality of the patient experience.
Aisling Kennedy, curator of the art in UHW, provided a statement on behalf of Réalta: “Réalta was delighted to support the restoration, reframing, and relocation of the nursing graduate photographs at University Hospital Waterford (UHW). These photographs now form a fascinating historical archive along the link corridor from the main hospital building to the Dunmore Wing”.
“Spanning from 1968 to the present day, the collection beautifully documents the changing faces, styles, and traditions of nursing graduates in Waterford across the decades, while celebrating the enduring contribution of nurses to healthcare in Waterford and the Southeast.”
This unique exhibition can be viewed along the link corridor between the main hospital and the Dunmore Wing.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
