As the world celebrates Nurses Day 2014, a husband and wife who both work at Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals have hailed their careers as “a challenge and a joy.”
Nurses Day is an annual celebration of the profession worldwide which falls on Florence Nightingale’s birthday (May 12).
And one couple from Huddersfield know better than most the value of nursing.
Andrew Elwers and his wife Rebecca Sykes-Elwers both work as nurses for Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust.
Andrew is a charge nurse on A&E at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, where he has worked for three years, while Rebecca has been a nurse for more than 20 years and is a sister on the stroke ward at Calderdale Royal Hospital.
Rebecca, said: “It’s a great career. A good nurse must be a person who wants to care above all else, they must also be someone with a sense of humour and someone who can communicate well with people.
“I would also tell anyone who is thinking of joining the profession be prepared for a challenge.
“Patients are always telling me they didn’t know we do so much.
“To be able to help someone back to recovery is always such a joy as you get to know them and their families which is a privilege.”
Andrew, 45, became a nurse as he wanted a career change and had the support and enthusiasm from his wife.
He said: “I love chatting to people. I am very sociable.
“I love being able to care for our patients who come into A&E, care for them there and then and see them going home.
“I also enjoy being there supporting families when times are difficult. There are never two days alike.”
The couple, from Birkby, have been married for seven years and have two children Sebastian, eight and Sophia, five.
They met when Andrew worked in the video hire shop in Paddock when Rebecca, 42, came in for a film and some chocolate buttons which she shared with him.
When she brought it back he bought her some buttons, they started chatting and they shared their first date 13 years ago.
Fact file:
Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust has 1,928 nurses and midwives.
94% are female and 6% are male.
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