Humans of Healthcare

“My family’s careers are routed in the humanities, so becoming a Physician Associate (PA) was unfamiliar territory."

“I’ve loved science since I was a child, but at school I wasn’t aware of the career opportunities it could provide.

“I can clearly remember the first time I tried my student nurse uniform on in 1985, aged just 18. I was so proud and excited about this new adventure I was undertaking.

“I’ve worked at St Helier Hospital in the Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) for one and a half years, and I’ve been in the field for over 12 years.

“One of my earliest memories, from when I was around five or six years old, is of the large number of beggars on the streets in Mombasa, Kenya, where I was born. I couldn’t understand it fully as a child, but many of these people were suffering with leprosy, or other medical conditions, and were missing some of their limbs. I used to watch them beg passers-by for food, or money, and I dreamt about one day being able to gather up all of those less fortunate that I’d seen on the streets and caring for them."

“My mother was a state registered nurse for the NHS. It was her livelihood, but it also saved her life. In the mid-1970s she contracted a life threatening blood disease and was rushed to Intensive Care. Thanks to the care of the doctors and nurses in the ICU she recovered, and I was inspired to pursue a career in the NHS so that I could give back and become part of an organisation that was providing compassionate care to those in need.