Happy International Nurses’ Day with cleft nurse, and CLAPA trustee, Izzy
International Nurses’ Day is celebrated in the UK on May 12 – Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
It’s a day to recognise the vital contribution nurses make to our lives. And one of these celebrated nurses is cleft clinical nurse specialist, and CLAPA trustee, Izzy.
Izzy smiled: “Being a cleft nurse is such a lovely job, I feel really lucky.”
After working as a neonatal nurse for six years in Cardiff, near her South Wales childhood home, Izzy moved to London and Great Ormond Street, where she continued to work in neonatal intensive care before taking up a role as a clinical nurse specialist within the cleft team.
Last year, a promotion took her to Evelina London Cleft Service, at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, where she now works in her community-based role.
Izzy was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate which, she feels, prompted her career into nursing.
“I’ve always loved looking after children and have strong memories of when I was young, having my cleft surgeries, and watching the nurses on the ward.
“Being in hospital so much as a kid made me really want to be a nurse who looked after children and made them happy.”
“Being in hospital so much as a kid made me really want to be a nurse who looked after children and made them happy.”
Izzy said having first-hand experience of growing up with a cleft has been helpful in her specialist nurse role, talking to parents and carers.
“I think it’s generally helpful that I have a repaired cleft lip and palate, because I have first hand experience of growing up with a cleft which gives me a greater insight.
“Parents can see I live a happy fulfilled life. However, It’s important to recognise that everybody’s journey is very different.
“I’ve always loved my job, from neonatal nursing to my current role as a cleft nurse.”
“I’ve always loved my job, from neonatal nursing to my current role as a cleft nurse. I really liked the close nurse-parent relationship on the neonatal ward – patients were often in the hospital for a few weeks, or months, so we built a really good rapport and got to know the babies well.
“It’s similar with cleft too, as the babies are on our caseload until they’ve finished their primary surgeries, generally until they’re a year old.”
As well as working as an excellent cleft specialist nurse, Izzy has also been helping the CLAPA community as one of our trustees for the last two years.
She said that, as well as helping CLAPA, being a trustee has helped in her own cleft journey.
“I was quite a stubborn kid and didn’t want to know about cleft growing up, or engage in any cleft activity groups. I just wanted to be like my peers.
“It was only last year, when I went to CLAPA’s adult conference as a trustee, that I realised what I’d missed out on – it was so lovely to speak with lots of different adults with cleft, and I really enjoyed it.
“My role as a trustee is a really nice crossover – being able to have an awareness of what’s happening at the hospital and also in the CLAPA community.”
“My role as a trustee is a really nice crossover – being able to have an awareness of what’s happening at the hospital and also in the CLAPA community.”
When she’s not nursing, or helping CLAPA as a trustee, Izzy is busy practising her strokes for ‘Swim Serpentine’ this September.
She’ll be swimming a mile to fundraise for CLAPA, in the famous Serpentine Lake at London’s Hyde Park
Good luck Izzy and thanks for all your hard work!
Thank you Izzy
Thank you to Izzy for sharing her story with us, and Happy International Nurses’ Day!
