Beragh nurse retires after 36 years

A POPULAR nurse from Beragh has retired after 36 years of dedicated service. Janice Vance retired at the end of January after 36 years nursing – 29 of these years were spent working in the Western Trust.

Janice worked in community nursing for almost 20 years up until 2002, graduating from community staff nurse to district nursing sister and community nurse manager covering Omagh, Castlederg and Strabane areas.

She retired from her role of head of service for an integrated team of district nurses, social workers and clerical staff which she has led for the past 12 years.

Tributes from her staff have reflected how she was a compassionate leader, who cared for her staff and supported them when they were experiencing difficulties whether those were workplace related or personal family difficulties.

Paying tribute to Janice, Vincent Ryan, assistant director of primary care & older people’s services for the Western Trust said, “Janice is an excellent team leader and leads her teams by caring for team members and supporting them to deliver excellent high standard care to the patients in her locality. All staff who have worked with Janice over the past 36 years remark on how hardworking, dedicated and motivated she is in her many roles. Janice’s ultimate goal is to ensure excellent care is delivered in her locality by well trained, dedicated staff and this is what she has aimed to achieve throughout her nursing career.”

Janice, who is married to Davy and has two grown up children, plans to enjoy her retirement spending time with her family and friends, travelling, walking her dog and continuing with her volunteering work in the local community.

Vincent continued, “On behalf of the Trust I would like to thank Janice for her contribution to the development of the district nursing services and integrated service delivery teams within primary care and older peoples services over the years and the excellent care her teams deliver. I would like to wish her good health and happiness in her retirement – she will be greatly missed by everyone and leaves a lasting legacy for others to follow.”