Two 冈本视频 Leicester (冈本视频) graduates are enjoying a double celebration - both winning a Royal College of Nursing award and landing jobs they love.
Helen Keating and Grace Broughton received the accolade for the key role they played in promoting the work of the Centre for Promotion of Excellence in Palliative Care (CPEP) within the university.
Helen Keating
The CPEP is a joint venture between Leicester's LOROS hospice and 冈本视频 aiming to influence the quality of palliative care for people approaching the end of life and their families and friends.
Both were delighted that their efforts had been recognised, while Kerry Blankley, Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care and Adult Nursing, said: "It was such a proud moment.
"They put in so much work promoting palliative care, which is important to healthcare professionals caring for people in a range of settings, and what was so special was they had just started their new jobs after graduating. It's a credit to them and the university."
Grace responded to a request for students to join the new CPEP after an oncology placement. She said: "When you go on placement you need to know how to react to patients as well as their families."
Helen joined the team because it's an area personal to her. She said: "I felt I had something to give.
"Nothing prepares you for it, but CPEP brings in the public to promote acceptance of palliative care and make people more aware of it."
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The 28-year-old is able to use some of the skills she learned in her new role as a staff nurse at Glenfield Coronary Care Unit and is enjoying the challenges it presents.
She said: "I would like to get more involved in palliative care in the future. I do have elements of this now, but I want to get experience in an acute setting first. Dealing with death and dying is quite traumatic, so I want to build up my communication skills."
Grace added that palliative care training is particularly helpful for newly qualified nurses in areas such as oncology.
Grace Broughton
The 22-year-old said: "I hope my involvement with the CPEP will help me land a job in this specialist field in the longer term when I have gained more general nursing experience."
She says her course helped prepare her for her role in the Acute Medical Unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI): "The number of placements and the length were brilliant.
"I love my role at the LRI but I do want to come back and study, perhaps Mentorship training, and I will choose 冈本视频."
This is the second award Grace has won during her time at university - she also picked up for volunteering to build washrooms in India in 2015.
Posted on Tuesday 8 March 2016