Welcome to SI Heswall and District

Our President's Message

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Welcome to SI Heswall and District Web site. I am delighted and very proud to have been elected as the 58th President of this dynamic, friendly club and am already enjoying the opportunities and responsibilities this affords me and look forward to a busy lively year ahead

I first heard the word Soroptimist during my nurse training in the early sixties. My tutor was Miss Stella Barnett who, at the time was a member and later President of our mother club in Birkenhead. At that time I didn’t dream that I may one day be eligible to join such an august body.

I enjoyed my nursing career immensely. Over a considerable number of years I worked as a nurse, midwife, clinical teacher and eventually, as Nurse Lecturer having been conferred with a Masters Degree in Nursing at Manchester University

In 1988 I was seconded from the University of Liverpool to the University of Malta to develop a B.Sc. [Nursing] course. Over time I was joined by a number of other UK lecturers and developed many courses in Nursing and Midwifery. By 1992 all nursing and midwifery education had moved into the Institute of Health Care, University of Malta.

In 1994 I was invited to join the newly established S.I. group in Malta when Janatha Stubbs was President. I was so proud to be a member but unfortunately it wasn’t to last, .as the following year I suffered a severe mental breakdown and had to leave Malta. After several years in the wilderness, a time I often refer to as my brain dead years, I recovered. However, I know many others aren’t so lucky and therefore, I choose to acknowledge this illness in the hope of changing attitudes toward people who are often marginalised in society.

Mental Health Charity Advocacy in Wirral

As a result of this experience I have chosen a mental health charity Advocacy in Wirral to support during my year. Earlier in June I was proud to attend the opening of a project aimed at improving the environment of patients, visitors and staff at Clatterbridge Mental Health Unit. As a previous patient I can appreciate more than most the changes that have been made.

Malta Connection
Also in 2001 I was honoured and very proud to be awarded the Medal of the Republic of Malta [QRM ] by the President of Malta for ‘Services to Nursing’.

I have been to Malta many times over the past few years attending weddings and other important celebrations. As a result of this I was persuaded by a few members to take a group on holiday. This has now grown into a party of 57 most of whom are Soroptimists. The remainder of the group, being close nursing friends.

Roll Back Malaria
During our holiday we are joining forces with S I Malta for a fundraising dinner for one of my charities. This is Zaffe a medical facility in the Republic of Benin, West Africa. which run by the Medical Missionaries of Mary. The project leader is Sister Irene Balzan who is a graduate of my first full time B.Sc. [Hons.] Nursing programme in Malta.

Benin is the country chosen by WHO for the Roll Back Malaria Project and was supported by International President Lynn Dunning for her December appeal in 2005. As Sister Irene is Maltese, I thought it a great opportunity for cross country collaboration

Cancer Network
In 2003 I had my next life changing illness-breast cancer for which I had a mastectomy. This time however, my life changed for better, I survived cancer a disease that had taken the lives of many family members, so it wasn’t unexpected and it was certainly a better experience than mental illness.

This experience also opened the way for me to become a patient/carer representative on the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network [MCCN] I am now Chairman of the Central locality group and sit on a number of committees concerned with Palliative Care and End of Life Care. These are issues which I am passionate about and take very little encouragement to engage people in conversation.

Service to community and Programme Action
We take this responsibility seriously and our work is listed under 'Our Projects' along with that of our enthusiastic Programme Action team who are involved with many projects.

Barbara Burkey

Our Officers

These club pages were last updated on: 24 April 2008
Log in to the Administration Section