Millicent Spencer
Alice Crawford has packed her scrubs away after 42 years as a maternal and child health nurse with Whittlesea council.
Ms Crawford said over the last four decades she has seen numerous changes to the profession, but her passion for nursing always remained.
“When I started 40 years ago there were only about 12 of us [nurses], the council was very small… things were very different,” she said.
“I always knew I wanted to work in the community – working with mothers, babies, and children.”
Prior to working for council Ms Crawford worked in midwifery, district nursing, and private nursing, however when she arrived at Whittlesea she knew she had found her forever home.
“When I started working at council I knew I would be there forever,” she said.
“What kept me in the job was knowing that I was helping mothers with their children.
“I got to see them grow into being more confident mothers who believed in themselves more.”
Ms Crawford said she has many special memories from her expansive career, but one particularly stands out.
“I worked in Epping and there was a Sri Lankan couple who had triplets, and they had no family here in Australia. They lived in a two-bedroom flat with no help whatsoever, so I rang the parish priest in Epping and asked if we could get some support for this family,” she said.
“He arranged for some mothers to come to the house and help the mother during the day, so the daytime was good but night time wasn’t. So I approached Whittlesea and [arranged] for a Mothercraft nurse to come in the night so the parents could sleep.
“The big thrill for me was when these triplets turned one I got an invitation to their first birthday party. They were a beautiful family and I often wonder what ever happened to those triplets.”
Ms Crawford said she has seen the many changes in Whittlesea but these these only made her job more interesting.
“Over the last 40 years we’ve had asylum seekers and refugees, which means we’ve used more interpreters,” she said.
“This changed our role a bit because it made it more diverse and allowed us to accommodate all families.”
Now in retirement Ms Crawford hopes to spend more time with her grandchildren and travel the country in her caravan.
Ms Crawford said passion is key for anyone wanting to join the nursing profession.
“You have to have a passion, once I started I never wanted to leave,” she said.
“There is also a lot of job satisfaction as you’re helping lots of people.
“You should also find a workplace you love, because if you don’t love the people you work with you’re not going to stay. The support and love I had from my colleagues kept me at council.”
