Nurse of 50 years 'not ready to give up the job'

A nurse who has spent 50 years looking after patients in Guernsey says she is not ready to give up her job.

Sandra Bourgaize started at the now closed King Edward VII hospital in January 1976, where she was put on a three-month trial.

The 73-year-old now works on the Carey Ward at the island's Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

She said: "I'm not ready to give up my job. I love to come to work, I love to see the patients, I love to work with my colleagues."

She said she was first interviewed by a matron who "asked me why I wanted to work there [King Edward VII hospital]... I said I want to give it a try".

"[The matron] said 'I will give you a trial' and she said 'if you don't like it, you can leave and if I don't like you, you'll be leaving anyway'.

"Obviously money was a big thing in the 70s, we needed money.

"My children were small... I've always been caring and the minute I started caring for people at the King Edward, those were the best years of my life.

"We had people in there that weren't just a couple of weeks, we looked after them for years and years... they were like family."

Bourgaize's colleagues on Carey Ward celebrated her 50th anniversary with her in January.

"I usually come in early because I can't get a parking space for a start... I came in and there was a notice on the door 'do not enter'. I thought I can't have my cup of coffee," she said.

"I went down for my handover and I opened the door and they were all in there, and there were balloons, cake and chocolates, it was lovely.

"One of my colleagues was helping me with the balloons because I had huge balloons... and visitors were saying 'happy birthday', I said its not my birthday you've made a mistake there."

She said she would be "fed up if I didn't come to work".

"It's going to happen at some point but, you know, not yet."

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