Mercy Place Mandurah Celebrates Seniors on International Women’s Day

Mercy Place Mandurah will celebrate the achievements of its female elders on 8 March, which is International Women’s Day.

And at the Home’s planned celebratory morning tea, the accomplishments of resident and retired nurse Iris Driver will strike a particular chord amongst Mercy Health’s nursing staff.

The 78-year-old aboriginal elder spent many years in her early nursing career working with the Royal Flying Doctors’ Service, where she flew throughout the state in answer to distress calls from sick and injured people in remote and regional locations, in a bid to get them to safety and urgent medical care.

“I was very young when I began flying as an RFDS nurse and there were times when the flights we did were quite frightening,” Mrs Driver says.

“But whenever the pilot told me we were about to go through a rough patch, I just hung on as hard as I could, because those were the days when I was also holding on to the patient, there were no stretchers on board the RFDS planes in the 1950s.

“I really loved my time working with the RFDS, although I can honestly say I’ve loved working as a nurse generally, I’ve been fortunate to work at many hospitals, including Armadale Hospital, and I’ve spent many years working sin hospitals over east, which I’ve loved.”

Mercy Health WA State Manager, Ms Anita Ghose, said that International Women’s Day provided an important opportunity to celebrate the achievements of female residents at each of Mercy Health’s six aged care homes throughout WA.

“International Women’s Day gives us the opportunity to focus our attention on our female residents, to both recognise their achievements and also the contribution they continue to make to our Mercy Place Mandurah community,” says Ms Ghose.

“Iris in particular can be very proud of her contribution to the WA community, as a woman who was committed to caring for others during a nursing career that spanned over 40 years.”

Mercy Health is a Catholic community not for profit provider of care, founded by the Sisters of Mercy and grounded in a 2000 year history of caring for those in need.  The organisation is a national service provider of health and aged care throughout Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland Merch Health offers home & community care services in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.

Pictured: Christina Venables, Iris Driver and Franky Sagcal