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Super trooper Nurse Trudi sails through SAS challenge
A top Monklands nurse has revealed that skills refined at the frontline of health and social care steeled her through a punishing SAS challenge – and saw her crowned the event’s super trooper.
Ultra-fit Trudi Marshall won the “most outstanding participant trophy” for physical fitness, resilience and leadership shown during the gruelling 48-hour Border Reiver challenge.
The event saw military fitness enthusiasts from a variety of backgrounds endure lungbusting wilderness marches with heavy packs, sleep deprivation, river crossings, mock capture and interrogation.
Of the 23 athletes who set out, only 13 – including tough Trudi, one of only two female contenders – managed to successfully complete the challenge.
And Trudi put it down to her caring touch: “Because of my profession, I’m trained and able to respond rapidly to a change in any situation.
“I was definitely able to draw on that and tap into those strengths when the going got tough.”
Among many aspects of care, Trudi has played a leading role in the development of Hospital at Home which spans North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships.
Trudi, who has recently been appointed associate nurse director for Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire, continued: “In my nursing capacity, you may be in a situation where a patient’s condition changes rapidly.
“You need to assess, set down a plan and implement really quickly – with a calm focus – and I think I was able to translate those skills across to the situations we encountered during the weekend.”
During the two-day event, participants had to set up camp in the wilds overnight and establish a rota of sentry duty – which Trudi organised.
In the early hours Trudi, during her own stint on watch, and some of the other participants, were captured by “enemy” forces, blindfolded and taken to an unknown location for some comprehensive questioning.
“That was about staying calm, following the instructions we’d been given about what to do if captured”, she said.
“We were released after an hour at a local village and told to find our own way back to our camps, two miles away, without going on roads or paths.
“We had to overcome the shock of getting taken away and link in back with our teams before a timed eight-hour march across three hills and countryside carrying our 35llb packs.”
Trudi is used to working in team and partnership scenarios as Hospital at Home is made up of NHS Lanarkshire consultants, advanced assessment nurses, allied health professionals and community psychiatric nurses.
She added: “At Hospital at Home there are many areas of expertise, strengths and skills you are drawing on collectively to reach a shared goal, which is safe, personcentred care.
“The Border Reiver challenge was all about communicating clearly and keeping people going when they’ve got highs and lows, just like we’d support a patient throughout their own journey.”