The Duchess Speaks With Nurses About Their Vital Roles

The Duchess spoke with nurses from the Midlands this week.

She talked with nurses at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, where more than 2400 nurses and midwives are employed.  The world’s first COVID-19 vaccine was administered by a matron from the Trust, May Parsons.  Below you see Ms. Parsons giving that first vaccine to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan on December 8th. 
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Ms. Parsons also gave Margaret Keenan her second dose of the vaccine on December 29. 
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During the call, Kate says, “You hear time and time again about the amazing things nurses up and down the country are doing – going that extra mile. It’s the things that are not part of the training […] but the things that come from your heart, and I think that’s what matters so much now: these acts of kindness to the patients you’re looking after.”  Here is the video of the call from Kensington Palace. 

Nurses up and down the country are going that extra mile, at a time when patients need it the most.

These acts of courage, strength, and kindness matter so much right now & we owe you a huge thank you for all that you have done & continue to do throughout these difficult times. pic.twitter.com/RxZAiRK54j

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 21, 2021

The Duchess talked about the vital part nurses play in combatting the pandemic, especially with the vaccine rollout. She spoke with Caroline Rudd and Judith Smith, two retired nurses who first met during nurses’ training back in 1978.  Both returned to the NHS to help with vaccinations in care homes.  They told the Duchess they were proud to respond to the NHS for people to re-join the workforce and help with delivering vaccines.  More from The Mirror’s story: 

“I’m supposed to be retired, I left nursing three years ago after 40 years with the NHS, but when the pandemic came along I felt the need to come back and I’m currently working as part of a vaccinations team out in the community.”

Beaming Kate told her: “Well done for coming back!”

You may recall that Kate is the royal patron of Nursing Now, a campaign created to raise the profile of nurses worldwide while also enabling them to have a greater role in making key health policy decisions. She was announced as the patron in February 2018; here you see her speaking about the program.  

At that time she talked about why Nursing Now is important to her. 

This campaign means a lot to me personally. My great-grandmother and grandmother were both volunteer nurses… they would have learned first-hand from working with the Voluntary Aid Detachment and the Red Cross about the care and compassion that sometimes only nurses can provide. 

Nursing Now also works to “release the potential of nurses to deliver Universal Health Coverage; improve lives of women; strengthen local economies.” 

If the background for the video looks different from others we have seen, that’s because it was shot at Sandringham. More in this Tweet from Rebecca English of The Daily Mail. 

Now for our look at what Kate wore on this call.

Well….the best I can do at this point is to say it appears the Duchess had on her Simone Rocha earrings, shown below as worn on other occasions.

It looks like she may be wearing a new necklace.  As far as the white shirt and black blazer go, I can’t see enough detail in the video to try and identify them.  I will keep searching for a better quality version of the video but am not optimistic. 

NECKLACE UPDATE FEB 10: It turns out the piece is most likely like the Round Stilla Lapis Lazuli Pendant Necklace ($220) from Astley Clarke.

More from the product description: “this demi-fine Stilla gemstone pendant features a captivating table-cut lapis lazuli gem, set in 18-carat yellow gold plated sterling silver, and uses a spectacle setting to display the entire blue gemstone and show its complexities beautifully. This gemstone pendant is finished with a gold nugget detail and our signature Astley Clarke star-set lapis lazuli tag.”

This was one of the pieces suggested in a previous post, but some of us didn’t realize it was blue; we thought it was black. The updated content on the necklace is from this February 10 post. 

Here is the full video; it runs about 4:40. 

 

LINKAGE: 

• Learn more about Nursing Now at the organization’s website here; its Facebook page is here; the group’s Twitter feed is here.
• The Mirror’s story by Russell Myers is here; Hello’s piece by Danielle Stacey is here; The Daily Mail’s article is here.