Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
Rosemary Bengoa, Janine Warcon and Annemaree Wone have each reached 40 years of service, with the milestone recognised at local staff thank-you events. Photo supplied
Three Burdekin hospital workers have clocked up 120 years of combined service to the Ayr and Home Hill communities.
Rosemary Bengoa, Janine Warcon and Annemaree Wone have each reached 40 years of service, with the milestone recognised at local staff thank-you events.
Rosemary began at Ayr Hospital in 1985 in the front office before moving into medical records, accounts payable, assets and finance.
Janine started in the Home Hill Hospital kitchen and has since worked across kitchen, cleaning and laundry roles at both Ayr and Home Hill. She later became an orderly before moving into her current role as an assistant in nursing at Home Hill.
Annemaree began her career at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, working as an enrolled nurse for four years before completing her registered nurse training in Townsville.
She returned to the Burdekin after the birth of her first child and now works across the dialysis unit and emergency department at Ayr.
The three staff members said their connection to the community, colleagues and variety of work had kept them in the health system for four decades.
“Your work colleagues and the friendships you make along the way keep you in the role,” Rosemary said.
For Janine, working in her own community and caring for patients has been a key part of her career.
“We’ve had some funny moments; just the other night one patient was disco dancing in the hallway with me,” she said.
Annemaree said working across different areas had kept her career varied.
“I work in dialysis, sometimes in the emergency department, and sometimes on the ward, and because I have always worked across multiple areas, I’ve never felt stuck in one place,” she said.
The breadth of responsibilities is a common feature of working in rural hospitals, Ms Wone said.
“You need to know lots of different things when you work in a rural or remote hospital setting, so we are very busy,” she said.
“But even with how much we have all achieved, I can’t believe it’s been 40 years; it feels like it happened overnight.”
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