From fire and security warden, to orderly, to theatre technician and more – Scott has spent 22 years with Queensland Health in many different capacities.
With a breadth of experience and a true passion for what he does, now Biggenden hospital are lucky enough to have Scott as an emergency nurse on staff.
Scott’s journey from “wardie” to nursing was inspired by both his wife and the healthcare staff he worked with at Queensland Health.
“My wife is a clinical nurse at Hervey Bay, so I got to hear about the value of this work firsthand,” Soctt said.
“Plus, I’ve seen so many kinds of care at Queensland Health for over two decades, I wanted to be an advocate for patients and provide them with the best quality professional care I could.
“So I thought – well, I’m going to give nursing a go.
“It was pretty challenging going back as a non-school leaver, aged 45, because I was never very academic at school.
“But I had good support at home from my wife and UniSC provided me such great tools to tackle my studies.”
And so begun his journey of juggling shift work with full-time uni.
Living in the Hervey Bay region, Scott attended class at our Fraser Coast campus and after a semester of full-time study load alongside his also full-time job, he realised he’d “put too much pressure on himself” and decided to scale his study back to part-time.
“It took me an extra 12 months to complete but I saw the end goal,” he said.
During his studies, Scott did a four-week internship at Biggenden Multi-purpose Health Service, a regional hospital in the small rural town where he fell in love with regional health care.
After this internship, he accepted a full-time graduate position with the facility.
“I was offered a graduate position at Hervey Bay Hospital,” Scott said. “Two weeks later, I was offered a graduate position at Biggenden hospital, which I jumped at because I loved working there during my internship. The friendships you make and the people you meet, supporting residents in aged care just brought me so much satisfaction.
“It was a no-brainer, so I selected to come back out for another 12 months.”
After he completes this post-graduate contract, Scott plans to travel around Australia as a remote nurse with his wife, ending up in Western Australia to spend time with their two sons and new grandbaby.
“Our long-term plan is to base ourselves in the WA region because a lot of these remote places struggle to get nurses on staff,” Scott said.
“While I’m here working in Biggenden, they’re providing me with all the training needed to work as a remote nurse, which is great and I’m very grateful for.”
For the moment, though, Scott is very happy working in regional Biggenden.
They have three doctors on staff, 11 permanent residents in aged care, seven acute patients and two emergency beds. Scott rotates between all three sections of the hospital.
He loves the closeness of the community, has a great relationship with the doctors and feels he can give a personalised level of care in this setting.
In this environment, Scott can use all his learned skills from working as an orderly and warden for Queensland Health.
During his time in these positions, he specifically worked in mental healthcare and is specialised in de-escalating tense situations, which is a huge asset as nurse.
He’s seen what it’s like from different points of view and is extremely compassionate toward patients, their families and the healthcare workers.
Scott’s journey is an inspiring example of why returning to uni as a non-school leaver can be so lifechanging.
Even though it’s challenging juggling work and study, it’s worth it to follow a drive or passion.
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