Working evenings is all in a day’s work for Damian

On May 12, Damian Davies will do what he always does. He will clock onto the evening shift at Liscombe House, receive the detailed handover notes, have a chat with his team, and start settling the residents in for the night.

For Damian, like all other nurses across the globe, May 12 is an important day. It is International Nurses’ Day, a day when the light shines on the many women and men who have been drawn to the vocation. The day was chosen to commemorate Florence Nightingale, who was born on 12 May.

This year the theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead, a fitting theme for Damian who has spent the last 15 years working at Liscombe House and is, by all accounts, a quiet achiever.

Damian is the current Evening Nurse Manager. While evening shift working is not on everyone’s career wish list, he reckons he has one of the best jobs going at Liscombe House.

Damian came to OCAV after years of working in a range of nursing jobs from spinal care through to working in surgery. There is not much he hasn’t seen, and he would not have it any other way.

“What stays the same is the focus on the person you are looking after, however sick they are, whatever illness they may have or whatever their needs are.”

Person-centric care and nursing are in Damian’s blood. He comes from a family of nurses and he couldn’t think of another career that he would enjoy more, nor another place he would prefer to work.

“The Liscombe House community is friendly, passionate and professional,” Damian said.

“The care is excellent, and that was particularly evident last year during lockdown when we worked tirelessly to keep everyone’s spirits high and to keep loneliness and anxiety at bay,” Damian said.

Damian acknowledges that aged care does have a bad reputation in Australia not least because of the way media portrays the sector, and the reality that some aged care facilities are not concentrated on care.

“It is crucial not to paint every Residential care and aged care nurse in the same light. They are not, as we can attest from the many messages of thanks from residents and families we receive,” he said.

Nursing has always given Damian many different opportunities, including the chance to grow his passion for palliative care.

“When a person reaches the end of their life, it is important to make sure they are comfortable, pain-free and relaxed,” Damian said.

“It is a privilege to be able to care for someone at their end,” he says.

At the end of his shift, Damian and his team ready themselves for their return home.

“I have a 30-minute drive home which is the perfect way to go from my working life into my home life. I can gradually switch off, ready myself for sleep before getting up to garden or walk my dog.”