LIFE DEDICATED TO HELPING PEOPLE CARE AND SERVICE

After helping to raise more than $10m for charity, prolific fundraiser and psychiatric nurse Brendan Porter has retired following 40 years of service including 22 years at the Townsville University Hospital.

During his life he has helped raise millions of dollars for different charities and causes here and overseas, including the Townsville University Hospital’s palliative care unit and was Queensland’s Charity Nurse of the Year in 2006.

In Ireland, Mr Porter helped raise close to $3m and for the Townsville palliative care unit the figure was $7.7m.

He has also received two commendations from Queensland Health.

The first was for support to North Queensland residents after Cyclone Larry and the second was for disarming a man armed with two knives on the hospital grounds.

Helping others has been and continues to be a central pillar to his life and began when he was growing up in Ireland.

“When I was a child I used to do a lot of community bits and pieces and would raise money for different charities,” Mr Porter said. “As time went by you would get a bit of a buzz from that because you realise this is not about me it is about other people.”

It was the death of his mother when he was in his late teens in an Irish hospital that prompted his decision to become a nurse.

“Sadly my mother died when I was 18 suffering from emphysema.

“What I saw there was that the nurses and doctors caring for her and I saw this wonderful love that they give to their patients … and I remember saying to my dad I think I want to be a nurse.”

Mr Porter said working as a psychiatric nurse and in palliative care was challenging.

“We do understand that people who come into palliative care are not going to survive so their mindset is completely different but we can certainly alleviate that by spending time with them.”

And in psychiatric nurses it was sometime like being a detective, he said.

“Sometimes what you see is not what you get.

“Quite often … it takes a bit of detective work to find out what the actual cause is.

“In mental health nursing we always talk about going g back and back and back k until we find the source e and once you find this s you can move forward.” ”

When he began n working as a nurse drug g abuse was rare.

“I have been in nurs- ing for 40 years (and remember) seeing my very first drug addict. He was an amazement to everybody because we had never seen anyone abusing drugs before.

“Now it is prevalent,” he said. Mr Porter has had a lifelong association with Rotary and helped bring one of Townsville’s favourite son’s Hung Van Nong to the city from Vietnam for life changing surgery.

That bond continues today and Mr Porter and his wife Roberta are Hung’s surrogate parents and they have helped through different stages of education to where he is now a qualified chef.

After arriving in Townsville in 1998 he joined Townsville Central Rotary Club.

One of the overall group’s charities is the Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children which supported Hung’s initial medical journey to

Townsville T when was w nine years old. “That organisation w was set up to bring children ch from developing in countries for lifesaving sa and dignity restoring re surgery. “Hung was found in Vietnam and had a very ve bad burn when he was two weeks old.

“I was asked if there was any possibility about getting surgery done here in Townsville to help Hung.

“We were very fortunate to have Dr Harry Stalewski who is a paediatric surgeon here.

“We brought Hung in thinking we could fix Hung’s leg but unfortunately during the surgery it became obvious that they had to amputate.

“But now Hung has done exceptionally well over the last 10 to 15 years. He now has a prosthetic leg, he went to school here, actually with Kalyn Ponga who is one of his heroes.

“Hung is now a qualified chef.” Mr Porter said it had been a very emotional journey for him, his wife Roberta and daughter Victoria being involved with Hung. he

“I have to give a lot of credit to my wife and even my daughter because they really bonded with Hung like a mother and sister and he calls me dad now.

“Emotionally for us we are just so pleased to think that at least we know there is one person whose life we have improved.

“Hung said that if he not had this opportunity he would have been a beggar on the street in Vietnam.”

Mr Porter also had a tilt at Townsville mayor, running as an independent in the 2012 election and managed to get 15 per cent of the vote.

Now retired, Mr Porter was planning to travel overseas with his wife, Roberta.

“My plans had been to travel but thank you COVID-19. But I am quite glad I am in North Queensland because when I look at places I was going to go I think I am in the safest place in the world.”

Although retired from active working life he continues his association with Rotary and raising money for projects to help others and does not know when he will stop.

“I think it is important to give rather than just take.”