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Our nurse makes front-page news in her hometown, Madeira

Intensive care nurse Lily Vieria

Lily Vieria (above), an intensive care nurse at our Trust, is originally from Madeira, Portugal and has appeared in the biggest newspaper of her hometown sharing her experiences caring for patients during the pandemic.

The article (bottom) has led to her being contacted by many old friends back home, as well as representatives from her country’s nursing council and even the government!

Lily, who moved to the UK eight years ago, said: “I’m amazed so many people have reached out to me and have been so kind.

“Many people have said how the end of the article made them cry. I was asked about my most difficult experience during the pandemic and shared how I was helping to care for a male patient who was deteriorating on my night shift. He had two daughters who I knew were very important to him and was clearly very popular as he’d received around 100 messages. While he was in a coma I read the messages to him and put up pictures of his family. I called his wife to let her know how he was and she was so grateful for what I’d done. I left feeling proud and that this was what nursing was all about. I was devastated to hear that he died the next day – especially as that was his younger daughter’s birthday.”

As well as sharing her experiences nursing in the UK, Lily, who also leads on wellbeing in our intensive care unit, spoke about how proud she was of how her hometown dealt with the pandemic.

She added: “Madeira is a small island which relies heavily on tourism, it’s also very focused on wellbeing and community. They were very cautious with self-isolation and lockdown and were very good at protecting people.”

Lily's article

 

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