Don’twait..nominate
DEADLINE FOR HEALTH HEROES Surgical skills land nurse who beat cancer colleagues’ respect and a nod for awards
TIME is running out to honour health professionals who have made a difference to patients’ lives through care, compassion and innovation.
There are only two days left until nominations for the 2017 Scottish Health Awards close.
So make sure you get your entries in quickly for people like Deborah McCallum, nominated in the Unsung Hero category.
The surgical nurse practitioner has worked as a theatre nurse since qualifying but a chance attachment opened her eyes to a whole new area where she was able to develop her nursing role.
Now she performs minor ops in the plastic surgery department at the Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, and has helped reduce patient waiting times.
What makes Deborah, 48, even more remarkable is that she has not had a day off sick since she took time off ill with rare cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2000.
When she learned she had been nominated, Deborah said: “I am feeling a little bit emotional. I don’t think what I do is anything better than anyone else.”
But the colleague who nominated her disagreed. She wrote: “Deborah’s contribution to NHS Fife is widely unrecognised.
“Not only does she contribute to the performance of the speciality with her operating skills, she is a dedicated nurse and exemplary role model, particularly for her sickness record.”
A meeting in Glasgow with other plastic surgery nurses changed Deborah’s her life. She said: “We went to a unit where nurses also carried out surgery.
“It was a lightbulb moment and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do’. I applied to do the course in Glasgow.
“It was a long course and I was back and forward to Glasgow. When I came back, I worked closely with surgeons in theatre practising, learning, doing.”
Deborah deals with skin surgery for “lumps, bumps, moles” and carries out biopsies to find out if a growth is cancerous.
She can only practise once a week when a consultant visits from Tayside because she needs them on hand in case there is a complication. But on that one day, she will see six patients.
She loves her work and is proud of her sickness record. She added: “I think I changed after having my illness – I realised time is precious.”
If you know a health hero like Debora, nominate them at scottishhealthawards.com by 5pm on Thursday.