Get-together a promise kept
The Tokoroa Hospital Nurse’s Gathering – Past and Present will be held at the Tokoroa Cosmopolitan Club on March 8 and 9 where dozens of past and present staff will reminisce with stories and photographs.
Tokoroa Hospital enrolled nurse Wendy Jones said the idea for the reunion came from a colleague who passed away recently.
‘‘About 12 months ago one of our nursing colleagues who had left quite a few years ago, I went to visit her because she was having chemotherapy treatment,’’ she said.
‘‘We were lying on the bed talking to her and having a laugh with her and when we went to leave she grabbed me by the hand and said: ‘Wendy, it’s time we had a nurses get-together and party like we used to’.
‘‘She died a few months ago. So, as a promise to her that is why we are having it,’’ Mrs Jones said.
She said losing colleagues was tough.
‘‘As the years have gone by we have lost some of our work colleagues and it really hits home,’’ she said last week.
She also told the South Waikato News that former colleagues who now live as far away as the United States have been confirmed for the reunion.
‘‘We have some coming from London, Australia, America. Never underestimate the grapevine. We have put the word out. But it was really Facebook that got it out there,’’ she said.
Mrs Jones, who has worked at Tokoroa Hospital for almost four decades, is looking forward to seeing old friends.
‘‘I am really looking forward to seeing old friends, seeing people who I haven’t seen for so many years. It is going to be great, lots of talking, a lot of talking and plenty of laughs. It is going to be fun.’’
The feeling was shared by registered nurse Lissie Cope, who is excited about the prospect of seeing former colleagues.