HIGHLY respected nursing manager Beatrix Stamps — who recently retired after serving Netcare Greenacres Hospital for no fewer than 21 years — took leave from colleagues at a moving farewell function attended by management and staff members recently.
“It has been a privilege and most reassuring to have had someone of Sr Stamps’ calibre and experience taking responsibility for the nursing function at our hospital over the last two decades,” said André Bothma, general manager at the hospital and Netcare Eastern Cape area manager.
“Her remarkable career in the nursing profession stretches back a total of 45 years, and she will be sorely missed, not only by the management and nursing staff at the hospital, but also by the profession to which she contributed so much.
“We wish her all the very best in her well-deserved retirement,” added Bothma.
Sr Stamps, who started her nursing training in 1972, said that it was “a great honour” to have worked as nursing manager at Netcare Greenacres Hospital, and within the nursing profession in South Africa.
“Although I leave my work here at the hospital with a heavy heart, I take with me so many fond and wonderful memories and experiences of my time here, and would like to convey my thanks to all of the great people whom I have had the privilege to call my colleagues during this time,” noted Stamps.
“The saying goes: ‘Choose work that you love and you won’t have to work another day’. This is how working in the nursing profession has been for me. I believe it was my calling; it has meaningfully challenged me and I have thoroughly enjoyed every step of the way over the years,” she added.
“While I am now looking forward to the greater freedom offered by retirement, I prefer to call it ‘semi-retirement’, as I believe that there is still much more I can do to contribute to society.”
Stamps, who has a son and two grandchildren, says that there “were not many careers for women to choose from” when she started out in the early 1970s.
She originally wanted to become a veterinarian or a veterinary nurse, but only one candidate from Pretoria, where she grew up, was selected to enrol that year.
“Although nursing was second ‘prize’ to me at the time, I soon knew it was my calling. I started my nursing training at SG Lourens College in Pretoria and undertook my practical training at a public hospital,” she explained.
“After completing my training and a few months after my son was born, I bravely applied for a nursing position at a clinic in Sunnyside, Pretoria. The matron said that I looked like I belonged in the operating room, and I started the following day, eventually working there for a total of 10 years.”
Thereafter she took up a position in the operating theatre at Jakaranda Hospital in Pretoria, which is today known as Netcare Jakaranda Hospital, where she eventually worked for 13 years. During this time, she completed her diploma in operating room science, and received the J&J Verity Sharp Memorial Trophy for best academic and practical student.
“This period was one of the highlights in my career. Shortly after I completed my diploma in 1990, I was privileged to be selected by Synthes International Orthopaedic company to do a three-week AO Foundation orthopaedic course in Egypt and was later appointed as theatre unit manager.
“I was then offered a position as nursing manager at the Pretoria clinic where I first commenced my career as a registered nurse, having come a full circle!
“In March 1998, I was asked if I would be interested in the nursing manager position at Netcare Greenacres Hospital in PE and I could not let the challenge pass me by.”
Stamps says a highlight of her time at the hospital was when she and the hospital infection prevention and control officer, Rene Schaefer, successfully motivated for the establishment of a Netcare Education training campus in the Eastern Cape. The campus in PE, which opened in 2000, created the opportunity for aspiring nurses in the region to enrol for accredited nursing training locally.
“Always leading the nursing staff members by example, Sr Stamps has been an inspiration and support to many young nursing professionals during her time with Netcare,” said Craig Murphy, the Netcare coastal regional director.
“She has made a critical contribution to Netcare Greenacres Hospital and to the nursing profession in the Eastern Cape, for which we owe her a great debt of gratitude. We wish her fulfilment and happiness in this new phase in her life,” he concluded.
