Caring for people for 120 years
They have spent the better part of their lives and careers at the Netcare Olivedale Hospital, and they are not finished.
For three staff members at the Netcare Olivedale Hospital January 2014 is a significant milestone, 40 years of service for each of them.
Felicity Oates, Pat Coetzee and Linda van Heerden joined the hospital in 1974 and have experienced so many things. Oates said they became nurses because they had very few other options. ‘”In those days women became teachers or nurses,” Oates said. “But it has been the most rewarding job. We have seen amazing changes, we have fond memories, but also a bit of sad memories. But there were great funny times.”
Oates had also worked as a nurse in England, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Today she is unit manager at the orthopaedics department. Coetzee is an anaesthetic sister and Van Heerden works at cardiac sarcoidosis. Many colleagues, uniforms and patients have come and gone, but one thing has remained throughout the past 40 years – their passion for the profession.
