Barbara Dowell, a much loved, esteemed and respected member of the Endoscopy Team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, sadly passed away peacefully in March 2024 surrounded by her family – husband Sandy and daughters Heather and Lauren.
Her colleagues still miss her every day but were determined to do something positive in her memory. Jackie Torley, a staff nurse in the Endoscopy Unit ran both the Manchester and Edinburgh Marathons this year with her son to raise money for Strathcarron Hospice who cared for Barbara during her cancer treatment. This raised an incredible £1780.
Three of Barbara’s other nursing colleagues – Emma Jenkins, Heather Everingham and Charley Shanks also organised a cake sale. All the staff within the Unit either baked or bought cakes in to raise more than £600 for Strathcarron Hospice.
Michelle Gilbertson, Senior Charge Nurse in the Endoscopy Unit, said: “Barbara became a nurse over 40 years ago and worked in the Endoscopy Unit for 27 years. She was a warm, friendly, kind, knowledgeable and experienced nurse with that magic gift of reassuring patients, colleagues and the endoscopists within the procedure rooms.
“The clinicians in the procedure rooms also had a very high level of regard for Barbara, and the response describing her as a safety blanket and highlighting the kindness and reassurance she provided to surgeons undertaking their first list as a consultant in the Endoscopy Unit.
“She taught us all to deliver the very highest standards of care to all our patients through the ‘Barbara Dowell school of nursing’. As well as being an exceptional nurse Barbara was also very funny and we all have our Barbara stories.”
“Many people would have known Barbera during her long nursing career and her death hit all the nursing, surgical and GI medical team very badly at the time and the loss is still being felt. We will never forget Barbara and I am incredibly proud of Jackie and her colleagues for helping to raise money in her memory and to thank the staff at Strathcarron for the care they gave to this very special nurse.”
