St Vincent's Nurses Alumni

Welcome to the St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni website.

The Alumni was originally established by Ida O’Dwyer in 1923. It continues to partner with St Vincent’s Hospital to retain a connectedness amongst past nurses, present nurse employees and adjunct members to:

  • pursue activities that foster nursing excellence including sponsoring scholarships to advance education and practice; facilitate mentoring relationships; and support nursing research
  • provide social opportunities to foster friendships and networks with a focus on support for past and present nurse employees experiencing disadvantage
  • promote recruitment opportunities to past, present and potential future nurse employees
  • contribute to the St Vincent’s Hospital archives
  • promote the philosophy and values of the Sisters of Charity and the mission of St Vincent’s Hospital
  • to raise funds to support Alumni projects and activities highlighted above.

With members from near and far, the Alumni offers friendship, professional networking and opportunities to contribute to advancing nursing leadership and practice at St Vincent’s.

Events and activities

Keep these dates free for important events!

Watch this space and your emails for further updates. If you would like further information, please email stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com

The SVNA Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday 15 March 2025 at 2pm in the St Vincent's Hospital Chapel, followed by afternoon tea on level 11 of the IPS building.

The SVNA High Afternoon Tea will be held at the Windsor Hotel, 111 Spring St Melbourne, 3000, on Friday 23 May 2025 at 2pm. Further advice will be provided to SVNA members when tickets become available late March/early April.

In 2025, the SVNA Annual Luncheon will be held at the Park Hyatt, 1 Parliament Square Off, Parliament Place Melbourne, on Friday 28 August. This event:

  • Enables social connections for nurses past and present, and their family and friends
  • Provides a forum to hold reunions
  • Contributes to SVNA fundraising activities
  • Provides opportunities to have fun with friends and colleagues.

The SVNA Alumni Committee will continue to provide advice via email to members about upcoming events and items of interest. You are encouraged to join the Alumni to receive these updates. 

St Vincent's Nurses Alumni Survey

On Friday 11 October 2024, a paper-based survey was conducted at the St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni Luncheon. Thank you to all attendees who responded to the survey.

The survey’s purpose was to gather views on SVNA’s role and priorities. Findings would inform further development of the SVNA’s role.

The Luncheon attracted 240 attendees, of whom 32 percent or 77 attendees responded to the survey. Of the 77 respondents, 66 percent or 51 respondents were SVNA members; 30 or 23 respondents identified as not being members; and four percent or three respondents had unknown membership status.

Forty one percent or 32 respondents also provided written feedback.

Respondents identified as the highest priorities the objectives:

  • To pursue activities that foster nursing excellence including sponsoring scholarships to advance education and practice; facilitate mentoring relationships; and support nursing research

  • To provide social opportunities to foster friendships and networks with a focus on support for past and present nurse employees experiencing disadvantage at 41 percent and 35 percent respectively.

    •  

    Of note the objectives ranked lowest, both at three percent were:

    • to contribute to the St Vincent’s Hospital archives

    • to raise funds to support Alumni projects and activities highlighted including the aforementioned objectives.

    It is important to acknowledge the sum of all parts, as without your generous support of fund raising the highest identified priorities could not be realised.

    Thirty-two respondents written feedback focused primarily on their experience at the luncheon. It is summarised as follows:

    • Fourteen respondents provided positive feedback about the social experience of the event

    • Five respondents considered that the luncheon would benefit from entertainment

    • Three respondents considered the venue noisy

    • Two respondents sought consideration of a different format with one break only for speeches and/or presentations and a request for more improved acoustics and audience control

    • No other common themes emerged from respondents

    • Eleven respondents expressed interest in becoming a member of the SVNA Committee and/or subcommittees and/or supporting activities related to SVNA Objectives. (A SVNA Committee representative is currently making contact with those attendees that expressed an such an interest.)

    The survey findings will be considered by the SVNA Committee and inform the SVNA planning session proposed for February 2025.

    Thank you all again for your support and participation. The SVNA Committee looks forward to seeing you all again together with friends and colleagues at next year’s events.

Reunions

Reunions provide a precious opportunity to catch up with friends and former colleagues, to share stories and network.

When organising events, including celebratory reunions consider booking tables at the SVNA High Tea or annual luncheon. Please email the St Vincent's Nurses Alumni Committee at stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com for further information. 

Fundraising

The Alumni raises funds to pursue activities that foster nursing excellence and leadership including sponsoring scholarships to advance education, practice, and support nursing research. There is no registration fee for Alumni membership.

The Alumni relies entirely on fundraising and donations.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. If you wish to make a financial contribution to support the Alumni’s work please complete the below form. It is important that you reference the donation to SVNA when you lodge the form.

Annually the Alumni is committed currently to providing:

  • $10,000 for Post Graduate scholarships
  • $1,000 for the Ida O’Dwyer Award.

Please consider supporting the Alumni in any way you can. With your support the Alumni can expand its work in advancing nursing leadership and practice.

Additionally, in 2024 an award was established to support an Indigenous undergraduate from a rural, remote, or regional area undertaking their Bachelor's nursing course at Australian Catholic University Melbourne or Ballarat Campus. The successful student will be allocated a grant of $2,000 per year for three years.

It is your support that enables the Alumni to undertake such important initiatives that will make a positive difference to community members' lives. Please consider supporting the Alumni in any way you can. With you support the Alumni can expand its work in advancing nursing leadership and practice, and supporting nurses past and present.

President's Message

Dear Colleagues

How quickly this year flew by! I hope for you and loved ones it has been a year of joy, discovery and connecting with those important to you.

I am pleased to acknowledge the successful annual luncheon held this year in October. I acknowledge that it was held at a time when there were also other important functions relevant to SVNA members. Thank you to those that attended.

Thank you to those that completed the survey conducted at the luncheon. Your views are important to us. The survey findings reinforce the importance of the Alumni’s role in providing opportunities for social connections and undertaking activities that promote and foster nursing excellence. A more detailed summary of findings is under the drop-down header of Events and Activities.

The survey findings will be further considered at the committee’s planning day scheduled for 15 February 2025. Rather than wait until the planning session, the committee thought it important to advise you all that at its recent meeting, it agreed that the annual luncheon should be held in August into the future, rather than October.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support through 2024 and wish you and loved ones, happiness and adventures through the festive season into 2025. I extend these wishes to St Vincent’s Hospital nursing fraternity, in particular the Education and Learning team, the Foundation and the Communication’s team and thank them for their support in 2024.

The Alumni Committee looks forward to your continued support in 2025.

Nusia Krolikowski

 

image_67232769 (1)Nusia

Sharing our memories

Fancy a trip down memory lane? We all have stories that we can remember and share. If you would like to add your story or memories to this page, email stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com

An extract is below from the handbook given to all new arrivals at the historical Preliminary Training School.

A Nurse must be:
Punctual;
Obedient and loyal to all rules, as the foundation of her work;
Active, yet quiet;
Methodical, reliable, careful, clean and neat;
Observant, intelligent and economical;
Capable of self-control, persevering gentleness, tact, sympathy and common sense;
Careful to pay attention to professional etiquette, remembering what is due to those in authority;
Careful in manner and attention to Visitors or Patients’ friends, a duty Nurses in the pressure of their work are apt to overlook;
Careful to wear her uniform with spotless cleanliness, neatness, and simplicity; hair tidy, and general bearing that of military smartness;
Careful to be always guarded in her behaviour towards Doctors and Students.

Join the Alumni

Catch up with friends and former colleagues, share news, enjoy annual events and reunions, and keep up with what’s happening at the hospital. The St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni Committee invites you to become a member and help the Alumni achieve its goals.

Membership is open to:

  • nursing graduates
  • enrolled and registered nurse employees (current and past) from St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne)
  • those invited by the St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni Committee to participate.

 

There is no joining fee.

To join, please email stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com:

Your name
Your email address
Mobile number
Year of graduation
Current or previous St Vincent’s employee
Any other information you wish to share

Donations contribute to the work of the St Vincent's Nurses Alumni.