Windsor care home honours nurses for Nurses' Day

A care home in Windsor recognised International Nurses’ Day on Thursday (May 12) by celebrating nurses both past and present.

The team at The Manor Care Home in Old Windsor brought together current and retired nurses to compare their very different experiences.

Jean Jackson, a resident at Greensleeves Care home, worked as a registered nurse for 42 years, starting at age 18.

Mihaela Ivaniciuc currently works as a nurse at The Manor and has been a registered nurse for 23 years – starting her career in Romania on a paediatric physiotherapy ward.

The two nurses discussed their experiences in the field, with one overwhelming difference being the level of strictness and sexism that existed during Jean’s time compared to today.

Jean said: “The sister in charge was a scary person and if you were summoned to her office, you generally trembled with fear on the way there.

“It was very much a man’s world – consultants ruled and you had to stand whenever one entered the room, open doors for them and agree with them regardless.

“I found this incredibly unfair and often the nurses were more skilled and knowledgeable than the doctors.”

Before moving to the UK four years ago, Mihaela worked in Italy in a private hospital. She was apprehensive about working in a hospital in the UK and therefore decided to try nursing in a care home, and she loved it so much that she never went back.

Mihaela said:

“When you say you are a nurse in a care home, people think of you in a different way to a nurse at a hospital, when in fact you have to be so much more.

“You have to be nurse, carer, paramedic, advisor, therapist, councillor, just everything. So many more skills are needed.”

Jean said one of her favourite things about being a nurse was meeting so many people from different backgrounds and the variety in every day.