Father-of-five Clinton Williams moved almost 400 kilometres to become a nurse in Geelong amid COVID-19 restrictions. With International Nurses Day just passed, he tells Luke Voogt what inspired him to take up the profession.
After packing his belongings into a hire truck, Clinton Williams drove down the Hume Highway with his new work contract and lease agreement in the passenger seat.
The drive last month was more daunting than usual, given Victoria was in the middle of stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions.
“You’re worried you’re going to get stopped on the way,” he said.
He moved from Wodonga to Geelong to start his new career as a nurse, leaving his partner and children behind temporarily.
He spoke to the Independent last Friday after a busy first week in University Hospital Geelong’s Rapid Assessment and Planning Unit.
“I just got home from work,” he said.
The multidisciplinary 16-bed unit treats patients who have come through the hospital’s emergency department and need monitoring.
“We have the team to get them back on track and hopefully home,” Clinton said.
“We’re always vigilant of their condition [worsening] and can transfer them to [intensive care] or any other ward if their care needs escalate.”
Clinton’s passion for caring for others began nursing his dad Neil during his last weeks alive after he was unexpectedly diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.
Clinton was working as a gardener when his dad, 63, came down to visit from Queensland in 2014.
After suffering abdominal pains Neil saw a doctor and tests revealed he had bowel cancer, which had already spread to his liver.
He had about a month and a half to live.
“He was in the hospital and wasn’t enjoying it,” Clinton said.
“He wanted to die at home so I gave him end-of-life care with a palliative care nurse.
“It’s quite a confronting ordeal when you have to wipe your dad’s bum – not much can prepare you for that.
“I remember him telling me that he was proud of me. He was so grateful and thankful for everything I was doing for him at the time.”
“Very supportive” palliative care nurses talked Clinton through caring for Neil and guided him in giving his dad strong pain medication and laxatives.
“The one that came on the night [he died] was lovely, she even did the dishes for us,” he said.
The nurse talked Clinton through his dad’s different stages of breathing before he died.
“When you’re not trained you don’t know what to expect,” he said.
After that, he decided nursing was his calling.
“I like to help people – making them happy makes me happy,” he said,
As a gardener he could still help others but as a nurse could make a long-lasting difference, he explained.
“I was an early school-leaver, so I didn’t have that to fall back on. I had never written an essay before.”
But Clinton completed a diploma in nursing, then a degree, and last September he joined a friend who was driving to Geelong for an information night on Barwon Health’s graduate nurse program.
“I fell in love with the program and decided that was where I wanted to work,” he said.
Ironically, Clinton was recruited as a graduate year nurse but not his friend.
“It was really awkward at the time when I wanted to tell her and she wasn’t telling me,” he said.
But she was happy for him none-the-less, he added.
He and fellow grad year students completed a “unique” orientation program last month, with split classes and extra precautions.
“You’re learning a lot of additional skills – when was the last time we had a pandemic?” he said.
“As nurses you’re used to washing your hands every five seconds but there’s extra things we’re doing.”
He began work in the Rapid Assessment and Planning Unit last Monday and felt he had found his feet.
Fellow staff mentored him when he was “overwhelmed” or learning something new, he said.
“Today, for instance, I had to do a blood transfusion, [which] I hadn’t done on placement – I had read about it.
“I actually got see one of the girls go through it and that really helps.”
He is looking forward to his partner Catherine and four of their children, aged 10 to 16, moving down to Geelong in July.
“She’s promised her boss she’ll be there until after stocktake,” he said.
“It’s tough but we talk on the phone every night.”
His eldest, Dylan, 21, is in the army and was deployed to Christmas Island to help administer a pop-up coronavirus quarantine hospital earlier this year.
Dylan has since returned to his base in Darwin, safe and well, Clinton said.
“I was so proud him for going over there and doing his bit,” he said.
“We were a little bit worried because we didn’t know much about the coronavirus at that stage, apart from what we read on social media.”
Clinton is keen to explore his new home city “after we’re out of this”.
“And the kids are too – they want to go to the beach,” he said.
