From behind the shop counter

8 September 2022

When Jackie Wilson was a little girl she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up. So as soon as she was 18 years old she left Manchester to train at Charing Cross and Great Ormond Street hospitals in London, then made her way to Scotland to train as a midwife.

Jackie’s nursing career led her Down Under. She worked for four years in the Australian Outback with the Royal Flying Doctor Service then travelled to New Zealand, where she only intended staying a few months.

But it was in New Zealand that she met her husband, Alick – a Liverpudlian - over a beer at an Auckland city pub. They decided to start a life together in New Zealand and Jackie worked at several hospitals in different roles before moving into palliative care.

She spent eight years as a relief registered nurse at North Shore’s hospice Inpatient Unit before retiring and it was those final eight years of her career that had a life-changing impact on her, setting her on a course of volunteerism.

“I found that the care given to patients in hospice was so holistic; you're like a family working together to care for that patient. To be part of that journey with the patient and their family is just so humbling, such a privilege.”

So Jackie made a vow to continue her association with hospice after retirement, as a volunteer.

While logic would suggest Jackie would gravitate towards a volunteering role at hospice’s Inpatient Unit, that’s not what happened. Jackie didn’t think she could “stop being a nurse” and “didn’t want to tread on toes” so she took up a role behind the counter at the Whangaparaoa Hospice Shop.

She says she loves her Monday morning shifts. “It’s fun and we all get on so well and have a good chat with the customers. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

She also volunteers as a community visitor. Four years ago she faced her own cancer diagnosis and underwent chemotherapy and surgery. She says the experience only made her more empathetic in the role. “I know exactly what patients are going through.”

This story first appeared in Hibiscus Matters on 8 August 2022, you can read it here.