Longserving nurse retires

Press, 18 February 1989, Page 4

Longserving nurse retires

By

DEBORAH MCPHERSON

A long-serving charge nurse at Coronation Hospital, Mrs Maureen Shimmin, retired yesterday after 16 years at the hospital for the elderly. Mrs Shimmin reentered the work force aged 42, after her three children were “off my hands,” she said. She was employed as a staff nurse and later appointed to the charge position of the ground floor ward at the hospital. Re-entering the paid workforce would be more difficult for older women now, Mrs Shimmin said. Mrs Shimmin said she had always liked working with elderly people, particularly women. While the hospital had usually catered for people well over their 60s, more people aged in their 50s and early 60s were being admitted with strokes, a sign of the stresses from the “fast pace of life” people were living now, said Mrs Shimmin. Mrs Shimmin has also been involved in community work. In her retirement, Mrs Shimmins is planning a holiday in Hong Kong, but on her return will be keen to make a few trips back to the hospital to “visit my girls.”