Here’s to you, Mrs Davison
Kay Davison, known to most staff at Sutherland Hospital as Mrs Davison, has retired after an incredible 61-year nursing career – and drew a huge crowd amongst colleagues who gathered to bid her farewell.
Sutherland Hospital threw a surprise farewell party to celebrate Mrs Davidson's last shift. Piped out by a bagpipe player and joined by her life-long friend and fellow nurse Robyn Price, Mrs Davidson walked through a guard of honour as a crowd of over 200 people clapped and cheered her to pay their respects to the Night Nurse Manager.
“Everyone at Sutherland Hospital has called me Mrs Davison for about 40 years. The formal greeting was common place for senior nursing staff throughout my career,” Mrs Davison said.
Kay Davidson became a trainee registered nurse at Sutherland Hospital in 1960 and apart for three short breaks to have her children has worked for the past 61 years.
“They didn’t have maternity leave back when I had my babies, so you had to resign and then re-apply when you wanted to come back,” she explained.
One of (if not the longest) standing staff members, Mrs Davidson worked in Sutherland Hospital’s cardiac ward, held teaching positions and leadership roles in the High Dependency Unit and Emergency Department. She completed her midwifery training and a degree in health administration, was appointed as the Night Assistant Director of Nursing and worked as the Night Manager for over 41 years.
“Nursing is a wonderful profession and I had a lot of fun all the way through my career. I feel very lucky I worked at Sutherland Hospital and would particularly like to thank Seng Lum, Evan Bailey and Rebecca McDonald who I worked closely with in the After Hours Office.”
When asked how she would like to be remembered by her colleagues Mrs Davison responded: “As someone that loved my job and loved the patients and their families I cared for. I always tried my best to do my part to see that their journey in the hospital was as good as it could be. Part of that is also caring for the staff who look after those patients.”
As she said farewell to colleagues and friends she left with this message: “From now on you can call me Kay.”