Happy retirement is just what the doctor ordered
COMMUNITY nurse Mo Griffiths has picked up a prescription for a long and happy retirement.
The 59-year-old from Taynuilt is the second generation of her family to look after Oban’s health. Her mum Marie was a registered staff nurse at the old West Highland Hospital in the town and her father Kenneth Lipp was a well-known GP in the town who built up the practice where she has worked for the last 16 years.
This week, colleagues at Lorn Medical Centre in Soroba Road had a party to say farewell and good luck.
Flowers, gifts and a celebration cake iced like a nurses’ uniform with a stethoscope and sticking plasters were presented to Mrs Griffiths to mark more than 30 years of service to nursing.
She trained in the east end of London before returning to her roots in Oban to work on the surgical wards of West Highland Hospital.
She took a three-year break from her career to move south with husband Colin when his marine laboratory job took them to Cornwall. The couple started a family and, after a return to practice course, Mrs Griffiths started work as a shift nurse before joining Lorn Medical Centre as a community nurse in 2002. Son Bruce, 26, is now training to be an ambulance technician in Aviemore while daughter Shona, 24, is a chef.
Over the years Mrs Griffiths has helped hundreds of patients.
She said: ‘There’s always a few special ones who I’ll never forget.
‘I’m going to miss my colleagues.
‘It’s been a great team and they do such a fabulous job.’
Changes she has seen over the years include nurses being able to take blood and prescribe drugs.
Fellow community nurse Gaynor Wotherspoon said: ‘She is loved so much by all her patients, staff and colleagues from far and wide.’
Nursing colleague and friend Frances Parkinson added: ‘She’s the office rock. Cool, calm and collected with a fantastic, wicked sense of humour. We will miss her lots.’
As for future plans, more walks in the great outdoors and travelling are just what the doctor’s ordered for a happy, healthy retirement.