This week Shaye speaks with Emergency nurse, James Adams. James is an ED nurse in Western NSW, and is the President of the NSWNMA’s Bathurst Branch. On top of this, he’s a trained paramedic, a TV extra and an organ donor. He has also been awarded the Oberon Young Citizen of the Year and the St John Bravery Award, and has featured on Family Feud along with some of his ED colleagues.
emergency nurse
“Taking this support away is unjust and simply just cruel”
Emergency nurse and NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association member Josh spoke out against the NSW government’s proposed repeal of legislation which will make it more difficult for nurses and midwives to access workers compensation if they are diagnosed with COVID-19.
Good afternoon everyone. My name’s Josh. I’m a registered nurse working in metro hospital in the emergency department. I’ve been doing this for the past five years.
Like all other nurses and midwives across the state, whether here in Sydney or a regional town, we’ve all been working exceptionally hard to ensure we provide our patients the best possible healthcare we can possibly do.
Through our work, we are exposed to high-risk situations every shift. And this pandemic is an ongoing issue, as we still have unvaccinated people in our communities.
While working in emergency, I myself have been identified as a close contact twice. I was isolating in hotel quarantine for a total of four week, as my sister is an asthmatic and mum has had collapsed lungs. On top of this, I was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 requiring me to isolate again for a further two weeks; away from my family and away from my friends, not only dealing with the physical side effects of COVID-19, but also the psychological impacts of this disease.
In May last year, special legislation passed through both houses, with the intent of offering workers compensation to nurses and midwives who needed it, if we became infected with COVID-19.
This is something I am currently utilising with strong support from union, my employer, my GP Dr Jamal Rifi who has also done a great deal already for South West Sydney. Ongoing support I need for myself, such as physiotherapy and psychological support so I can return to work.
The emergency department and specialised wards never stop. Nursing and midwifery is a 24/7 service. With this comes nurses who are full-time, part-time and casual.
If the NSW government withdraws these supports it will leave all health staff, especially casual nurses and midwives, financially burdened – as they would have to prove they contracted the deadly disease from work and on top of that, contest workers compensation claims. This in turn will lead to casual nurses and midwives to not risk working as they would be financially, physically and physiologically impacted by COVID-19 and with no supports. This will in turn lead to no patient ratios, with more patients to less nurses, putting even more strain on an already burnt out workforce.
As we all know this pandemic has taken a toll on everyone. But all frontline staff have done an exceptionally good job in attempting to best care and protect the people of NSW. Taking this support away from one of the most essential services is unjust and simply just cruel.
We are asking all politicians, in the lower and upper house, to do the right thing and block the government’s shameful repeal.
Josh provided this statement at a press conference on the workers compensation legislation on 16 November 2021. You can check the speech with his delivery here.
What do you love about nursing? 4 nurses share their stories
This International Nurses Day, we asked four nurses from very diverse backgrounds what it is they loved about being a nurse.
Deanna – Private Hospital nurse
I must love being a nurse as I have been in the profession for 30 years (minus babies and travel). My reasons for staying have changed over the years. I initially chose nursing as I wanted to travel and work overseas. I achieved this with basing myself in London working in many specialties, travelling extensively and making some lifelong nursing friends (where else can you find fellow souls with the same rude and dark humour?). When I returned to Australia I discovered it was possible to balance family life with continuing to work in nursing. My reasons for staying now is that I love working in a caring profession, and I love being able to pass on skills and sound practices to young nurses joining the field.
Sue – Aged Care nurse
I love working as an Aged Care nurse. The beautiful people I look after could be my mum or dad. They have seen things we will never see in our lifetime. Now in their declining years, they are a privilege to look after. Even though aged care nursing is extremely hard, with everything that is happening today, it’s very satisfying just to go to work and spend time, listen to their lives, just to be there to assist them with their needs, talk to them and help any way I can. I also feel very privileged to be able to spend their last hours with them, particularly when family aren’t able to be there.
Everybody should be treated with respect and dignity and if I can just do this in my work life I am happy. That is why I chose to work in aged care. It is also why I am heavily involved in campaigning for our elderly in care. I will speak up and let everybody know what is happening in aged care.
Silvana – Emergency Nurse
I always wanted to be a nurse. When I was 16 years old, I did work experience at Shellharbour Public Hospital – now 30 years later I’m still here. I have also worked in a variety of areas, including in vascular, orthopaedic, surgical, day surgery, medical and aged care wards, as well as at a Nursing home. But what I really love working is in the Emergency Department as I feel like I can help all my patients with our extra clinical skills.
Alison – Intensive Care nurse and Clinical Nurse Educator
I started in nursing in Cambridge, England and came to Australia when hospital based training transferred to university. Australia was experiencing shortages of nurses, and especially in ICU, which was my specialty. Nursing has continued to be a pleasure and a privilege over the years, particularly in my roles in ICU and as a Clinical Nurse Educator. Being able to help somebody, whether patient, relative or nervous young nurse sounds mawkish and trite. But it’s what has kept me in this profession for all these years.
‘It was like Armageddon’
Grafton Base Hospital was surrounded by multiple bushfires this fire season.
Remana Harris, an RN in Grafton hospital’s emergency department, looked outside at 3 o’clock one afternoon and saw the sky was orange.
“It was like Armageddon,” said Remana, who is president of the Clarence Valley NSWNMA branch.
“We had quite an extensive period where the whole town was blanketed in smoke and we saw a lot more presentations because of smoke inhalation.
“Some of the firefighters presented to the hospital, and we had workers who had smoke just blowing through their workplace and they had asthma.”
Hospital presentations traditionally peak in winter. However, longer and more destructive bushfire seasons are now putting pressure on hospitals all year round.
“A lot of people with co-morbid conditions had to come and stay in hospital because their homes were in jeopardy,” Remana said.
“People who have extensive NDIS packages, and who normally only come in when they are unwell, came in when their normal services couldn’t reach them.”
While demands on the hospital increased, some staff members had trouble getting to work.
“At one point we only had one highway in and out of Grafton, and a lot of nurses couldn’t come to work because of fires closing roads.
“Five hospital workers lived in Nymboida, where 85 homes were lost, and they were cut off from their properties.”
The Clarence branch had already been campaigning for more staff in recent months, Remana said.
“We have been asking for extra staff, or something as simple as the in-charge nurse not having a patient load, and for an extra nurse across each shift in.