Helen Lyttle marks her retirement with work friends and colleagues

When Helen Lyttle started her nursing training in 1966, things were very different: no first names were used, starched uniforms were the order of the day and matron’s word was law.

Patients almost sat to attention, bed wheels and pillows had to face the same way and if you
couldn’t do a ‘hospital corner’, your nursing

career could come to an abrupt end. But it all gave Helen a good grounding for her future nursing life.

In the early 1970s Helen came to Jersey and fell in love with the Island. She was a staff nurse at Overdale Hospital, where she later became a sister on the post-operative ward.

Having married Barry in 1973 and later started a family, she did a spell on night duty, then joined the Jersey District Nursing Association, now known as Family Nursing and Home Care, in 1985. Helen worked on the twilight shift, which was then in its infancy with only one trained nurse and an auxiliary to cover the whole Island.

After working on the twilight shift, she went on to do day work as a job-share nurse and has spent many satisfying years in this role. She has seen considerable growth in Family Nursing and Home Care and the services it offers to the community.

Her contribution was recognised by district nurse team leader Jane Le Ruez-Lane, when she said that Helen always enjoyed caring for her clients in a professional manner, had
always been prepared to help her colleagues and had worked well within the team.

Helen is looking forward to retirement. Her husband Barry also retires at the end of this month after a long career at the Jersey Evening Post and they intend to travel more, visit their sons in England and generally enjoy their time in a more relaxing form.

Helen Lyttle marks her retirement with work friends and colleagues