It seems only fitting that this year, we take this opportunity to reflect on the enormous challenges our nurses and midwives have faced over the past 15 months.

The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, and has understandably caused great concern in our communities and across the world.

Our wonderful nurses and midwives come to work, day in and day out, continuing to provide much needed care to others, supporting people at their most vulnerable and bringing new life into the world.

For this, I offer my profound thanks and gratitude.

While the pandemic has caused great disruption and devastation across the world, it has showcased on a global scale the resilience of this workforce and what being a nurse or midwife really entails.

As the executive director for nursing and midwifery services in the district, I often hear of times where our nurses and midwives have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help others.

One recent example that made me particularly proud was during the March 2021 floods that ravaged the Lower Mid North Coast and New England regions.

As the heavy rain set in, floodwater rose and communities began to panic, service managers sprang into action to enact contingency plans and ensure the continuation of critical health services.

Some of the staff who were on-shift during the peak flooding periods remained at the facilities to work additional hours, shower and sleep - in some instances for three nights away from their families and loved ones - to keep services running as others couldn't get to work.

At Manning Hospital, quick-thinking staff were able to transform the outpatient consult rooms into staff sleeping areas.

Others, who live in Taree, generously opened their homes to colleagues who were stuck and couldn't get home through the floodwater.

I was humbled to learn that some of our service managers and staff even volunteered their time at evacuation centres to help coordinate responses and support members of their community.

This all occurred while many of our staff were displaced, had lost homes and had property damaged themselves.

Despite the destruction and devastation caused by these floods across the state, I was incredibly proud to learn of the commitment our staff displayed, to ensure the health and safety of communities.

Their dedication and acts of selflessness were admirable, however, not at all surprising, as these characteristics define what it truly means to work in health.

Another recent example is the opening of the district's first major COVID-19 vaccination centre at John Hunter Hospital.

To get the centre up and running, some of our nurses and midwives were seconded to other roles to help with logistics, operations and training.

There was an enormous amount of work that went into ensuring administration processes were in place, vaccination bays were set up appropriately, vaccines were correctly stored and handled, and staff were adequately trained to effectively administer the vaccine.

Simply ensuring that the centre was able to cope with the volume of people coming in for vaccinations, was an unbelievable feat in itself.

This project required a whole-of-health approach, and it was inspiring to see our nurses and midwives work together with their colleagues to deliver this.

I have watched on proudly over the past year, as the profession has received the acknowledgement and appreciation it deserves.

I can only hope that this encourages others to pursue what is an extremely challenging but rewarding career.

Finally, I want to thank our nurses and midwives for their dedication and hard work, but, most importantly, for their kindness and compassion.

Maya Angelou famously said: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".

This I believe, sums up what it truly means to be a nurse or midwife.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: