Feb 2021
OSJCT volunteer Ena Fox, reflects on gender diversity in nursing since joining as a cadet nurse in 1970s
Former Surgical Staff Nurse, Ena, shares her thoughts on opportunities for women ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021.
Volunteer and former Surgical Staff Nurse, Ena, shares her thoughts on opportunities for women ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021.
Ena started volunteering at Skirbeck Court in Boston, Lincolnshire, in May 2015 after her mum, Jean, moved to the OSJCT care home when her dementia progressed to a stage where she needed ongoing care and security.
Volunteering has become a big part of Ena’s retirement after spending 44 years nursing in the NHS. Ena always wanted to be a nurse; her late dad had often said to her: “You’re a born carer.”
Diversity and family life as a nurse
From a young age, seeing the new hospital at Boston being built, Ena knew she wanted to work there. She started five years of training as a cadet nurse aged 16 and qualified as a staff nurse. Ena worked for 44 years in the NHS, much of that time as a surgical staff nurse, working nights.
Ena said: “I had a wonderful career. The opportunity to work nights was ideal when my sons, Alex and Jordan, were young. I could take them to school, pick them up and spend time with them during the day.
“I do think that International Women’s Day is important. It’s good to see more women in the workplace. Alex runs an employment agency and works with five women in the office, I see how well they gel together.
“When I started nursing was almost exclusively for women except for a few men who worked in psychiatric units. Now many more men work in nursing, and there are lots of opportunities for men and women to train. Thank goodness as we all have different talents to bring to our work.”
Volunteering as OSJCT Skirbeck Court
Ena said: “My mum was very happy living at Skirbeck Court, she didn’t know that she was in a care home, but she knew that she was very well looked after and in the company of friends.”
Ena returned to volunteer shortly after her mum’s death in November 2019. She said: “The home is like an extended family, the staff are amazing and after a career in nursing, volunteering in this way is a rewarding part of my retirement.”
On a typical day of volunteering, Ena will take the morning drinks trolley round to each resident’s room, as well as lounges where residents meet in social bubbles. She then joins the home’s Activities Coordinator, Judith Arbon for activities like quizzes, crafts, and movement sessions. Ena often sits with residents to chat or manicure their nails. On other occasions, over the years, Ena has dressed up as the Easter Bunny, or an Elf at Christmas time.
After dinner time, Ena often runs errands for those at the home such as picking up wool for avid knitter 98-year-old Dorothy or helping others with baking and cake decorating activities.
Ena said: “As a ‘born carer’, I absolutely love being a volunteer, spending my time helping other people, and meeting residents. Especially now that they are missing their families.”