A “brilliant” nurse who motivates the team she works with through regular get togethers and days out - and organises fundraising events that have significantly benefited the hospital - has been dubbed one of the NHS’s unsung heroes.
Gill Lewis, who works on the surgical admissions unit and the post operative surgical day unit at the Friarage Hospital, regularly organises team trips and gets staff involved with fundraising events she holds.
She said: “I’ve been in nursing for more than 40 years and I’ve never worked anywhere where we’ve got such a good team.”
Karen Siefert, a healthcare assistant on the ward said: “Gill is amazing – all our nurses are – but all the things that happen for the charities and our wellbeing days wouldn’t happen without Gill.
“She’s great at getting us all working as a team.
"She is the person we go to when we’ve got any problems.”
Gill lost her father to prostate cancer, but she was motivated to raise funds for the MRI Scanner Appeal at the Friarage when her dad had to travel to James Cook for his MRI scan.
“I wanted to make sure people could have their scans closer to home, so I got the team together to raise funds for this brilliant cause,” said Gill.
“We had a ‘party in the park’ on the field at the back of my house and had bands playing.”
Sadly, Gill also experienced losing two best friends, including her former colleague Julie, in the same year due to cancer.
In their memory, she held another day of fun in the field featuring cake sales and various stalls, which raised more than £2,000 for Teesside Hospice.
When her daughter recently held her wedding party in a marquee in Gill’s garden, Gill made sure she got full use of it.
Gill said: “My daughter got married on the Saturday, so we used it on the Sunday to have a party and raise funds.
“We raised about £2,500 for the memorial gardens which we’re going to have as part of the new surgical facilities.”
Gill’s work for charity is done alongside her nursing role as well as being a wife, mother, grandmother – and helping her mum who recently had a stroke.