Imelda Aying has made many sacrifices to pursue a career in nursing, sacrifices which have brought her closer to her patients.
Imelda Aying can often be heard singing with patients in the haemodialysis (HD) unit.
“I have a guitar at home and sometimes at Christmas I bring it in for the patients,” she says, as a warm smile appears on her face.
For Imelda the singing forms part of relationship building with people she spends up to 15 hours a week with.
Singing, listening, educating, motivating and consoling are the social and emotional skills required in the unique clinical environment of a HD unit.
“You cannot stop from being attached to your patient because they listen to you, they talk to you, you’re by their side for numerous hours a week. I often spend more time with patients than my family. Really, they are my family,” she said.
A brief look into her career explains Imelda’s connection to her patients.
After graduating as a nurse in the Philippines, she made the difficult decision to work in Saudi Arabia to pursue a better life for her young family.
Unfortunately that meant spending large periods of time away from her two young daughters and husband.
“All the tears and all the phone calls. It was very hard but individually all of us dream of something for ourselves and our families and my children now reflect on what I did for them,” she said.
Living in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s was very restrictive, particularly for women.
“I would work. Go home. Work,” she said, explaining that most of her interactions were with patients.
After a number of years in Saudi, she moved to New Zealand with her family before coming to Bendigo in 2008.
During her 27-year spell in nursing across various hospitals, she’s never strayed from the HD unit.
“I think it suits my personality. You are there for the patient all the time. The patient walks in unwell and they go home well and it becomes a pattern, it becomes your consolation, it becomes your pride,” she said.
Imelda, who is associate nurse unit manager at Bendigo Health renal services, says she’s used her array of experience to improve clinical care at the organisation by developing policies and procedures to help deliver a uniformity of practice.
For a person that’s moved around a lot, spending 11 years at Bendigo Health is significant.
"You carry a lot of clinical ideas that you share with the service and they’re open to it, they grasp it and take ideas on," she said.
More information on Bendigo Health’s renal services is available here.