Maghera's golden girl Bernie celebrates 50 years of nursing excellence

A nurse with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has said she would happily do it all again as she celebrates an incredible 50 years of service to her profession.

Bernie Rogers, from Maghera, started her career in January 1976 in the School of Nursing at Mid Ulster Hospital. Five decades later, and despite officially retiring, she continues to play an important role within Team North.

A special event was held recently in honour of Bernie’s milestone achievement, with colleagues getting together to mark her ongoing contribution to both patients and staff.

ABOVE: Bernie Rogers (centre) pictured with Maria Loughran, the Northern Trust’s Head of Nursing Workforce and Utilisation (left) and Tracie Fleming (right), Workforce and Regulation Assistant Director.

Looking back on what she has achieved, Bernie said: “I have loved every minute of my 50-year-career as a nurse, and I would absolutely do it all over again if I could. I have met great people and made great friends. It has been a rewarding and enjoyable career, and caring for people at their most vulnerable has been a huge privilege.”

Offering her congratulations to Bernie, Tracie Fleming, the Northern Trust’s Workforce and Regulation Assistant Director, said: “It’s a rare privilege to celebrate something truly extraordinary. 50 years of dedication to nursing, not just a career but a lifetime of service, compassion, and unwavering commitment to caring for others.

“On behalf of the entire nursing workforce team and the Northern Trust, I would like to thank Bernie for her service, her dedication, and her heart. She is the embodiment of everything nursing should be, and we were honoured to celebrate this remarkable milestone with her.”

Maria Loughran, Head of Nursing Workforce and Utilisation with the Northern Trust, described working with Bernie as a privilege: “Throughout her career and in more recent years, Bernie has made a huge personal and professional contribution to nursing, exemplifying values of care, compassion, competence and integrity and our Team North values - working together, excellence, openness and honesty and compassion.

“Bernie has always maintained a professional curiosity, continually learning and being innovative, always with a smile and always with the patient and their family at centre of everything she does.

“The nursing profession and the Team North nursing family is richer for having Bernie Rogers over the past 50 years.”   

ABOVE: Bernie Rogers (back row, third left) pictured with colleagues at her 50th anniversary party.

Bernie’s first Staff Nurse position was a rotational post in the Mid Ulster Hospital’s children’s ward, before she moved on to the Emergency Department. From here it was back to further studying, as she left to begin her midwifery post registration qualification at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast from 1980-1982. A lack of midwifery posts after qualifying meant Bernie returned to ‘the Mid’ as a Staff Nurse in the medical ward. She moved to the Intensive Care Unit in 1984 and was one of the first nurses to complete her Advanced Life Support (ALS) course.

She remained in ICU until 2003, when she became one of four nurses appointed to Northern Ireland’s first clinical support team, delivering clinical skills training to junior doctors. The team went on to receive a national training award in 2004.

In 2011, Bernie moved to Antrim Area Hospital, taking up a nurse practitioner role, before moving to Causeway Hospital the following year as Hospital at Night Co-ordinator, a role she held until her retirement in 2018.

Shortly after retirement, Bernie joined the Corporate Nursing Team as a part-time bank staff member. She worked in the Nursing Innovation Team supporting the introduction of person-centred care practices across wards and teams, then in care homes as part of the REACH team, offering vital support during COVID.

Over the past few years, Bernie has worked within the Nursing Workforce Team, supporting newly qualified and internationally educated nurses by providing clinical skills support and helping them to transition into their roles as confident, competent registrants by sharing her knowledge and expertise.