I grew up in North Yorkshire and left home at 19 to train in Kent as an Enrolled Nurse. After qualifying I worked in A&E in Ashford and then after becoming very interested in the heart conditions coming through the doors, I took a post at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle working on a busy Cardiothoracic Intensive Care and transplant Unit. Here, I gained vital experience and knowledge and had the privilege to work with highly experienced Nurses and Doctors.
From there, Yorkshire beckoned and I returned home to work at Wharfedale General Hospital in Otley on a combined General Intensive Care and Coronary Care Unit. During my three years here I studied at Bradford University to gain my Staff Nurse qualification and also completed my Diploma in General Nursing.
In 1997, I applied for promotion to the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire and gained a higher grade to work as a Staff/Registered Nurse in charge of a small Coronary Care Unit. During my time there I was involved with the setting up of a chest pain assessment area and was involved with Cardiac Rehabilitation. I also received a secondment to work as a research Sister for the Diabetic Consultant and completed a research assignment on evaluating devices for measuring blood pressure, which has been published.
During my time at the Friarage Hospital, I met and married my husband, Euan in 2000 and we lived in Ripon, North Yorkshire and had two girls in 2002 and 2004. I was in the process of obtaining my Nurse Practitioners degree when my husband had the opportunity to go and work in Arkansas for a two year secondment, which we took. We had a great experience living in Arkansas and travelled in the States as much as we could and I even had a job offer from one of the hospitals there!
We returned to the UK in 2006 and moved to Suffolk as my husband was now based in Essex. I applied for the position of Community Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse soon after and have been developing this service since, which is how, through meeting Jill, I have become involved with Upbeat.
Whilst in this post, I have become a British Heart Foundation Nurse and have qualified through the British Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation to prescribe exercise. I am part of the Anglia Stroke and Cardiac Network and Suffolk Pathway Groups which help to promote and develop Cardiac Rehabilitation within Suffolk.
My hobbies (when I get the time) are running, tennis, reading and looking after my precious family Euan, Laura and Kara.
I grew up in North Yorkshire and left home at 19 to train in Kent as an Enrolled Nurse. After qualifying I worked in A&E in Ashford and then after becoming very interested in the heart conditions coming through the doors, I took a post at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle working on a busy Cardiothoracic Intensive Care and transplant Unit. Here, I gained vital experience and knowledge and had the privilege to work with highly experienced Nurses and Doctors.