Recently retired Charleville nurse Lillian Scott has experienced life’s highs and lows during her lengthy nursing career which initially had a tentative start 56 years ago.
When she was just 18, Lillian already had her heart set on becoming a nurse.
But after three months of training her mother, two sisters and grandfather perished in a house fire at Windorah in 1960.
“I immediately quit my nursing training at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital and returned to Windorah to care for my sister who was just three,” she said.
After marrying and having two children, her husband Vernon bought her a hairdressing salon.
She trained as a hairdresser and after 16 years retired.
But the lure of nursing still proved to be strong. She returned to nursing in 1985 as an enrolled nurse at Charleville Hospital before deciding to study full-time to become a registered nurse.
She moved to Brisbane in 1997 to study for her Bachelor of Nursing at the Australian Catholic University.
“It was a big decision to move to Brisbane to study full-time, but I was determined to complete my studies,” she said.
“I found the practical assignments easy but the written assignments and referencing were a huge learning curve for me because I hadn’t done this at school.”
In late 1999, she returned to Charleville Hospital to work, graduating from university in 2000. She retired in June at the age of 73, after having taken extended leave following the death of her husband Vernon last September.
“The biggest changes have been the reconfiguration of Charleville Hospital with inpatients now all on one floor and far quicker recovery times after surgery,’’ she said.
“Most patients having surgery here now are home by the next day.’’
To mark her retirement, Lillian is now planning to head off to Europe for a month.
Lillian has two sons, Craig who has a business in Charleville, and Bruce who lives near Windorah and is the current Barcoo Shire Mayor, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
