Model professional Bernie retires from Vale Hospital
Published 1 May 2012 09:29
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POPULAR: Marie Bateman (left), from Helensburgh, and Elizabeth Kinloch, from Balloch, were amongst colleagues past and present who congratulated Bernie
A MUCH loved physio has retired from the Vale of Leven Hospital after a physiotherapy career spanning more than 40 years.
Bernadette Heaney stepped down last week from her most recent post as senior physiotherapist in Ward 15 of the Care of the Elderly Unit.
And she was given a special send-off by colleagues past and present who attended a tea party in her honour in the Day Hospital and presented her with a host of cards, presents and gifts.
Bernie's retirement coincided with the 40th anniversary of her marriage to her husband, Bill, who is also now retired.
The couple are hoping to spend more time with their children and grandchildren, who live in Edinburgh and Oban, and to do some additional voluntary work for charities they are already involved with.
Bernie, from Round Riding Road, Dumbarton, said: "We are also hoping to spend more leisure time in the garden and on holidays and doing a few jobs around the house."
Physiotherapy team leader, Neil Ferguson, said Bernie had started work at the Vale in 1971 after graduating from the Scottish Physiotherapy School in Glasgow
She left to have, and to bring up, her children, Bryan and Damian, before returning to work at Dumbarton and Clydebank Health Centres.
Neil added: "She applied for a post here again back in 1987 demonstrating the same passion for Elderly Medicine and Rehabilitation that we all see to this day and she has remained here ever since.
"Spending a good many years in Ward 15, she has been heavily involved in the development of services and has always been a strong advocate for the patients and for physiotherapy."
He described her as a popular, much-loved member of staff who was always "a model professional entirely dedicated to her patients".
Bernie, a long-standing Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, thanked her colleagues who she said she had enjoyed working with and who had inspired her and helped her throughout her career at the hospital.
This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 02 May 12
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