A DISTRICT nurse’s cash reward for taking part in a national fashion magazine’s online careers fair is to bring some festive cheer to patients at Richardson Hospital.
Gemma Hunter, who operates from the hospital in Barnard Castle, earned £150 for being one of four panellists on Cosmopolitanmagazine’s Zoom conference on October 6, which was viewed by more than 1,000 young people.
The discussion was led by the magazine’s executive editor, Amy Grier, and featured a detective, an entrepreneur and a chief executive alongside Ms Hunter.
The district nurse became involved when she responded to a Twitter request looking for a health care support worker who had progressed in the medical field.
She said: “I was terrified [about doing it] because I am not very good at public speaking, but I had great support from my manager, Sandra Smyth.”
She explained that her GCSE results were not good enough to train as a nurse, so instead started her career as health support worker in Darlington in 2006, and progressed to working on the wards at Richardson Hospital in 2007. Through support from the NHS trust she was able to complete a foundation degree which paved the way her to become a registered nurse in 2014. Since then she has gone on to become a specialist practitioner and a non-medical prescriber.
It is this background that made her an ideal panellist for the conference.
Ms Hunter said: “It was all about the learning. I just love sharing that.”
She decided to give the cash she received for taking part to the Friends of Richardson Hospital group because of “the really good support” they have given to the hospital staff, particularly through the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the support has been the installation of a new kitchen and fridge to store flu vaccines.
Iris Hillery of the friends group said: “We really appreciate the support of staff working in and from the hospital. Whilst we have had some relaxation of restrictions the staff have to remained vigilant at all times. We will put the money towards buying Christmas gifts for patients in the Richardson at Christmas though we may not be able to deliver them in person.”
