A LIFE CV - AND A NOTABLE DAY - 1-5-15 THE 1ST OF MAY 2015

A LIFE CV

AND A NOTABLE DAY

1-5-15 THE 1ST OF MAY 2015

LIFE = IT'S A JOURNEY

NOT A DESTINATION

0 Years - 1956 Born - Lagos Nigeria

18 Years - 1974 - North London Comprehensive - Leaving School (with limited Academic Success)

19 Years - 1975 - West London, Employed Beecham Products - Lab Technician

22 Years - 1978 - Barman - Isaac Newton Pub, St Johns Wood, London

23 Years - 1979 - Hospital Porter - St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. London.

24 Years - 1980 - Student Nurse, Normanby College, Kings College Hospital, London

A Wife

27 Years - 1983 - Staff Nurse, David Ferrier Ward, Kings College Hospital, London.

A Father

28 Years - 1984 - Staff Nurse, Intensive Care, Kings College Hospital, London.

30 Years - 1986 - Staff Nurse, Glangwilli Intensive Care Unit, Carmarthen.

31 Years - 1987 - Staff Nurse - Morriston Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Swansea.

32 Years - 1988 - Unqualified Nurse Tutor, West Glamorgan School of Nursing and Midwifery

35 Years - 1991 - Registered Nurse Tutor, West Wales College of Nursing and Midwifery - Bachelor of Education

40 Years - 1996 - Master of Philosophy

49 Years - 2005 - PhD

51 Years - 2007 - Head of Nursing - College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University

1st May 2015 - Retired Associate Professor of Nursing

A FATHER

A GRANDFATHER

BLESSED

SO MUCH MORE TO DO.......

TUESDAY APRIL 14th 2015

TUESDAY APRIL 14th 2015

JUST ANOTHER (EXTRAORDINARY) DAY!

You've heard of the three ages of man: Youth, middle age, and you're looking wonderful." 

On this day the sun rose as usual, and I climbed out of my bed in my 3 bed-roomed semi-detached in an affluent suburb of Swansea.  I have not always lived in this house, but it is the longest I have lived in any one house in my life - 27 years.

Prior to my life in this house,  I had a colourful complex life that is documented in detail elsewhere:

Goto 

My Life Diaries

But Nevertheless - In Brief....

I was born in Nigeria, raised and schooled (somewhat eccentrically) in London. 

I worked in Industry.

I worked as a Barman. 

I worked as a Hospital Porter.

And then in 1980, at the age of 24 I went to train as a Nurse at Kings College Hospital in London. There I met my wife Janet. And then a 35 year story began. 

We worked in Kings and had our 1st son - Tom. 

New Nightingales - A Student Nurse's Diary 1980 - 1983

I specialised in Intensive Care Nursing. 

We moved to Wales, Carmarthen  and Morriston - ITU.

 A second son - Sam. 

And then in 1988 we moved to Swansea, and to the house that I woke up in this morning. 

Then there was another son - Robert. 

I got a job as a Nurse Tutor in the School of Nursing.

I did a Degree in Education at Cardiff University.

And then I did an MPhil.

And I managed and coordinated an MSc in Advanced Practice.

And then I did a PhD.

And then I became the Head of the Department of Nursing.

And then - My sons grew up - and I am now a Grandfather.

So - to the Point --- 

On Tuesday 14th April 2015 I dressed, grey trousers, shirt and tie. I took the Car from my house to Swansea University Campus - a short 20 minute drive. I parked, and took a short walk to the Glyndwr Building, 2nd Floor room 219. My office - usually flamboyant and garish, was oddly bare. 

I took my Sweetie Jar full of cheap boiled sweets, and I walked to corridors, and offered familiar names and faces a "Sweetie". There were the usual conversations and predictable gossip. 

There were classrooms burgeoning with young hopefuls. Tomorrows Nurses, Paramedics and Midwives - so full of optimism. There was the hustle, bustle and politics of a busy University. 

Then I locked my Office Door..... I walked down the corridor like I had a thousand times before - but this time - for the last time....

I turned and looked over my shoulder - and there stretched a vivid history. 

So many faces, so many events, disasters and triumphs. 

Thousands upon thousands of patients, students, teachers and colleagues looked back at me. 

From a time before computers, mobile phones, email, the internet, social media, Facebook, Twitter, Google - through to the present day - they all looked back at me through that long tunnel of memories that was my career, my life, they waved, smiled, and wished me well all in their own way. 

I waved back 
#DAVEWAVE

It was the start of the next Chapter.

I drove home to the house where I raised my family.

It was a lovely day. A strange day. A reflective day.

The Day

I RETIRED!

"Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it." 

The Final Email......

THE COLLEGE OF HUMAN AND HEALTH SCIENCE

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY

MY FINAL "RETIREMENT" EMAIL

TO ALL THE STAFF

MONDAY 13-4-15

AND THANK YOU FOR THE LOVELY REPLIES!

------------------------

Dear All

I have read so many "Final" Emails over the years. It is consequently incredibly strange to be writing my own "Final Farewell Email". I trust you will indulge my "final" rantings - I am sure you would not expect anything less of me......

Email, in my opinion, is a very mean, shallow and depersonalized means of communication. It is a poor second to actually talking to people face to face. In reality I would like to "say" the the content of this message to you all personally, face to face - not by an impersonal "electronic" Email. It has been the nature of my career as a Nurse that interpersonal "one to one" communication has been crucial, fundamental and essential to quality human experience.  If you "Do Not Want a Reply" then don't send it in the 1st place!!!! But however, I grudgingly accept that Email has a place I suppose in aspects of mass communication, as long as you don't use it to say things to many people you are too weak or frightened to say to someone face to face in person.  

I digress. This is my last "Email" in the CHHS - after what I can only imagine is 10s, maybe 100s of thousands of Emails. As I said - indulge me (the Principle Editor of the Almanac) just a little. Firstly I have been approached by so many of you over the last few weeks  and have had some very kind and nice things said to me by friends, peers, enemy's, academics, support staff - and  and by some inspiring future leaders. Thank you - this has meant so much me. Most touchingly were those student nurses and qualified nurses of all ranks who have individually and collectively sought me out to say thank you and wish me well after what has been a long, diverse and colorful career. 

This has been a long journey for me - from a Student Nurse in South London to a retiring Senior Nurse Educator at Swansea University. There have been many milestones along the way - and this is just another one of those milestones. I set out on my journey (my career as a Nurse) as a single, rebellious and flippant young man, I am now a grandfather, and still I am pleased to think perhaps a tad rebellious, flippant and alternative. I admit without apology that I have never really been one for rules, regulations and conformity. 

I have said previously that during my career in the University I always viewed myself as a Nurse first and foremost, and as an academic only as an afterthought. For me, being a NURSE was one of my greatest achievements, and educating the next generation of NURSES one of my greatest responsibilities. I always believed that nursing had provided me with a unique life experience that allowed me to maintain a sensible perspective even in the most adverse situation. When the world of the University with all its bureaucracy, corporate aspiration and regulation sometimes seemed to come crashing  down around me, I looked back and thought of all the patients who I had cared for, all those who lived, and all those who didn't. 

My sense of humour has been, I would like to think, a blessing rather than burden. I suspect some would disagree, but I have always felt that Nursing lends itself to finding the silver lining even in the most difficult and tragic of life's events. And thus, I am enormously grateful to all those who have laughed with me along the way - as laughter is the most powerful medicine.  If I can impart any advice to the next generation of Nurse Educators it is one of three things:

Firstly - When your the Teacher - The Students are ALWAYS the Enemy!

Secondly - never take yourself too seriously, and to always laugh at your misfortunes as a Nurse Teacher and / or Academic, because these events are invariably not life threatening.... 

Thirdly - those who have known my office, with its multitude of quotations that used to be on its walls will recognize the following. "The reason that University Politics is SO vicious, is precisely because the stakes are SO small" Henry Kissinger. KEEP PERSPECTIVE! Always remember that not 200 yards from the CHHS offices there is a hospital where people are fighting for, and sometimes losing their lives, every day. 

In 1980, in a small rather shabby bedsit in South London, I sat as a brand new student nurse, holding a sheet of paper handed to me by my Nurse Teachers. It was a poem. It inspired me to the point of tears, and it has driven and inspired me for 35 years ever since. It defines my raison d'etre as a Nurse. When I questioned why I was going to work, why I was teaching young people to Nurse - I turned to it. I hope it inspires you to. It is why we, you, ALL OF YOU, regardless of your role in the CHHS, carry a responsibility for the next generation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals. Never forget - it could be your Mother, Father, Husband, Wife, Child being cared for by a Nurse. 

To the Student Nurses of the CHHS - Never be too Posh to Wash or too Clever to Care. Instead be Well Educated, Compassionate, Caring Nurses. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT.....

GO TO

NOT A CRABBIT OLD WOMAN - SEE ME....

I wish you all well - I will miss most of you very much, and just a few of you just a little, and a tiny minority not at all. More then anything I will miss the Students, who are the future (despite being also the enemy!!!)  - and the reason that the CHHS exists. Forget the REF, forget the KPIs, forget the PDRs, forget all the Corporate Bullshit. Remember that a good Education should be painful and take you out of your Comfort Zone. Personally I don't give a damn whether the student has a good experience - as long as they become good nurses.... 

NOW - Imagine you're sick, frightened, and a Nurse holds your hand and says "don't be scared - I am here for you". You all made that possible - well done the CHHS.... Look to the future and to what really matters....

However, the Editors of the Almanac must now move unapologetically on, and pass the "Baton" to the next generation. The two of us are joining hands, stepping into our Mobile Home, and driving to a new future with our Grandchildren at our side and with a sense of great measured optimism. From this day forward every day is Saturday Morning :o)  

Dr Thomas David Barton PhD, M.Phil, B.Ed, Dip.N

Email: Bartontd1@gmail.com

Email: Bartontd1@yahoo.co.uk  

NEW NIGHTINGALES - The Diary of a Student Nurse 1980-1983

Ta Ta for Now

Dave

Dr. T.D. Barton - PhD, M.Phil, B.Ed, Dip.N, RGN, RNT.

Associate Professor - Nursing / Director of Special Projects

Athro Cyswllt – Nyrsio/Cyfarwyddwr Prosiectau Allweddol

College of Human and Health Sciences / Coleg y Gwyddorau Dynol ac Iechyd

Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe
Singleton Park, SWANSEA, SA2 8PP

The "Almanac"

THE ALMANAC

In 1994 I was a a 38 year old Nurse Tutor. Life was very very busy, a young family, my nurse wife working shifts, I was teaching every day, planning lessons, marking, feeding babies, restless disturbed nights. 

The School of Nursing and Midwifery was a busy place - there was lots of politics, eccentric characters, rules, regulations, meetings and hierarchies. 

I was tired, a bit stressed, and in response to this my coping mechanisms were perhaps (characteristically) a little flippant and rebellious. 

And so I wrote and embarked on the very first Almanac. It was the "Private Eye" of the Mid and West Wales School of  Nursing and Midwifery, a parody and irreverent spoof of events and staff. It was (I would like to think)  uncompromising and cutting. Then there was no Email - no Internet - I simply left Hard-copies around on desks and tables. It went what would be called today "Viral". Most laughed, some were naturally offended.  

The Editors of the Almanac were of course anonymous - many tried to guess, and there were eventually many conspirators (particularly my wife Janet) who contributed to many later editions, often styled on a theme - Star Wars, The Christmas Carol, Harry Potter.  Despite its notoriety many (some very senior staff) never knew who the Almanac Editors were?  

Today I attended a joint lunchtime buffet to acknowledge my and a colleagues  imminent retirement. In celebration, and after a break of 10 years, I released the final Almanac via Email  Walking down the corridor in the University to the large room where the retirement buffet was to be held I found myself surprisingly nervous. The room was packed, and the usual complimentary speeches were made. In due course I made my response - and at the end announced, with what I would like to think was a touch of a theatrical flourish (and just a tad camp) that I was the Editor of the Almanac.

What I didn't expect was the standing ovation, applause, and a spontaneous roar of laughter.

It was surprisingly emotional......

Laugh and the World Laughs with you - cry and cry alone.

------

ALMANAC PUBLISHING 2015

PRESENTS THE FINAL, LAST, NEVER TO BE REPEATED EDITION

TITLED

“OLIVER & OLIVIA”

 AT THE COLLEGE OF HUMAN AND HEALTH SCIENCE

(hereafter known as the  CHHS  and be damned to whatever APA may say)

AKA

THE WORKHOUSE

IN THE STYLE OF DICKENS

Oliver’s & Olivia’s
LAST Week in the WORKHOUSE

-------

Human Science? Who came up with that crap. Psychology, Sociology – the study of people who don’t need to be studied by people who do need to be studied. Lets face it, when your ill and throwing up copiously you don’t call for a Psychologist, you call for a Nurse or Paramedic. When you urgently need a bedpan a Sociologist is about as useful as a Chocolate Tea Pot. The Editors of the Almanac say “Human Science our arse” let’s talk about people who do something useful!

------

If they had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better they might have taught much more!

Its the suggested "Staff" casting that causes the uproar :o)

Do not ask me to remember.

Do not ask me to remember.

Don’t try to make me understand.

Let me rest and know you’re with me.

Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I’m confused beyond your concept.

I am sad and sick and lost.

All I know is that I need you.

To be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me.

Do not scold or curse or cry.

I can’t help the way I’m acting.

Can’t be different though I try.

Just remember that I need you.

That the best of me is gone.

Please don’t fail to stand beside me.

Love me ‘til my life is done.

Author unknown

My Father

Thomas Barton

RAF Officer

WW2 Bomber Squadron Leader -  War Hero

Died 1985 Aged 65 Years 

Dementia robbed his final years of his Dignity

He Rests in Deserved Peace

Well Said Sam

I have 3 sons that am am proud of and love in equal portions. Tom, Sam and Robert have each in their own way inspired me as they grew and became adult men. 

L to R - Sam, Robert and Tom 

But this brief Blog I devote to Sam. 

Sam and his son Izaak

Sam has chronic pain - this` is complex in its presentation - suffice it to say he is in constant pain that can vary from nagging to intense. Throughout his teens and young adulthood he has struggled and battled with this disease. Times have been tough, some times very tough, but Sam is a survivor. That is all I will say, it is for Sam to tell his own story. 

In the last few days I have had occasion to applaud Sam.

I observed Sam in a very formal and challenging meeting and watched him deport himself with maturity and integrity. 

And today I read what Sam wrote in Social Media. I was proud of his narrative. 

-----------------------------

SAM BARTON on the NHS

"Over the years I have received a significant amount of health care on the NHS for a long term and still persisting medical condition. At the bleakest times during my early teens, the difficulties involved were overwhelming. But there was always the peace of mind for my parents in knowing that my health care would be financially covered. The lose of the national health system cannot be measured in the terms of "adequate health care" but will measured in the terms of loss of life. To support privatisation will be to support Discrimination, discrimination against those who have been dealt a bad hand or those who struggle to fend for themselves through no fault of their own, for whatever reason. It will be to Discriminate against those who have never wanted for more than enough food on the table and a warm roof over their heads at night. The NHS in this country should be a right and not a privilege for the privileged few. I have grown up being taught and believing that we all have as much right to adequate heath care as anyone else, rich or poor. If we lose the NHS we lose the greatest thing this country has at a time when this country has little right to use the word "great" in its name. And we will measure it's loss in lives rather than pound coins."

-------------------------------

Today Sam is 28 Years Old. He is still in pain. He lives with his lovely partner Nicola, and is a perfect father to his son Izaak. 

Firsts and Lasts - Passing the Baton

FIRSTS AND LASTS

It has been my experience of life that we all have many “Firsts”. I am sure you know what I mean. Your first Boyfriend/Girlfriend, your first Kiss, your first Car, your first Job and so on. Of course, health professionals experience this as well in the course of their career. Your first Patient, your first Drug Round, your first time In Charge, your first Death.  This is all part of the tapestry of our lives as humans and professionals, a myriad of little Rites of Passage that mould us as people.  Firsts come in many forms and can be both positive and negative in their effect on you.

I have long understood this, and thus it is a surprise to me that I have come to a moment in the story of my life when I now find myself still experiencing new “Firsts” (Grandfather) but also new` “Lasts”. Lasts are events when you do something for the Last time. As with Firsts, I hasten to emphasise that Lasts are not necessarily negative events, and can be really quite uplifting.

I am currently having a plethora of Lasts, this an unsurprising result of my impending retirement in April 2015 and following a 35 year career as a clinical nurse, nurse teacher and university academic. Today (27-1-2015) I attended my last Graduation ceremony as part of the Procession. Graduation, it’s a moment of celebration, of Pomp and Circumstance, a moment for family pride and future optimism. I have always had a great sense of pride over the years, looking down from the stage at legions of future Nurses, pledging to protect the patients they will care for. Today was no different, 170 newly qualified nurses stepping out into their careers, taking them where, who knows!

And as I looked around that grand graduation hall, at new nurses, their proud families, at my young teaching colleagues, for that last time, it was with great pride that I knew I was leaving the Nursing Profession in safe hands. It was an uplifting:

LAST...

Passing the Baton 

Brangwyn Hall Swansea

THE NEXT GENERATION CELEBRATES

Tomorrows Nurse Teachers

These Two (Rhidian & his Wife) met as Students of Sept 2011 Cohort and Married

Reminds me of another Student Nurse Couple 35 Years Ago

LAST GRADUATION - January 2015

-------------------------------------------

The Day after I posted this Blog I received this :o) :

"Hi Dave,
You won't know me but I am a M12 student. Have just read your blog and wanted to wish you all the very best for your retirement.
I started my nursing degree in M11 and still remember the first time you came to talk to us, I remember feeling so excited to begin my nursing degree, I also remember you saying that we would only really see you on our first day when you welcome us, and our final day when you say goodbye (unless we had been really bad then we would see you sooner). 18 months on whilst taking some time off for maternity I met you in the corridor with my 3 week old baby, I panicked as I saw you walking towards me that you would be cross that I had taken time out of my studies (silly really) because you came over and swept the baby out of Gwyneth Warners' arms, and coooed over her and fussed her. You were very supportive and kind to my daughter and I. So meeting you in the middle of my studies wasn't so bad after all!!
And now I am at the end of my degree and the long awaited final goodbye lecture is next week.
I feel so proud to have been a student in the university, I have been so supported by all of the staff, so thank you. I have a job in ITU and am so excited to begin my career.
It would be impossible for you to remember all of your students but there will be so many just like me who will not forget you.
Good luck"