workforce
From surgery to cinema
Nurse turned filmmaker releases ode to the profession .
By Conor Burke
A new film by a registered nurse turned filmmaker has been released , with the help of Edith Cowan University , to celebrate the dedication of our nurses and midwives .
Helen Hanson-Searle is an RN , actor , writer , director and sometime opera singer ; and while that might seem a strange combination for some , Hanson-Searle believes it couldn ’ t be more natural .
Nursing is one of those professions that starts conversations . At a barbeque , the pub or a family gathering , most nurses have been accosted by someone buffeting them with questions as soon as they find out what they do . Nurses invariably have good stories , some harrowing some funny or sweet , and day to day nurses see a range of human emotions and conditions which makes them good story tellers .
Hanson-Searle says that storytelling is a huge part of the nursing tradition .
“ As an actor , we create freely . We have this wonderful opportunity to create characters and bring them to life . But also as nurses we ’ re engaging in stories every single day . We ’ re hearing stories , really tough stories , all the time . And storytelling has been a big part of our community for generations . It ’ s a really healing tool that we ’ ve been using for thousands of years to heal communities and to heal the spirit .”
It was one such story that inspired the short film Shift , which charts a short part of one weary nurse ’ s journey home from a long shift and the people she encounters . A colleague told Hanson-Searle about a similar journey home .
“ I was talking to a nurse at work and she talked to me about travelling home at the end of the day , and a young woman started speaking to her who was intellectually challenged . And she just thought afterwards how much joy she brought to the train . I thought what a lovely story that is . Because I ’ ve also had so many people talking to me on trains and on buses that I don ’ t know . They just come up if they recognise you in uniform , they ’ ll just start chatting with you . So I thought there ’ s a lovely opportunity for a story there .”
For Hanson-Searle the film , in which she plays the lead character of the nurse , helps give some representation to nurses in the media outside of the traditional hospital drama . It shows a nurse as a real person as well as the effect nurses have on the community outside of a medical setting . “ She ’ s de-stressing , unpacking from her shift . If you ’ ll notice at the beginning of Shift , there ’ s these subtle sounds of hospital noises when she ’ s standing at the bus stop waiting ,” she says .
“ So if you imagine , she ’ s made a 12-hour shift . She ’ s on her way home . She ’ s been dealing with difficult things throughout the night , and then she just wants to be quiet . And also , she ’ s got her own things going on as well that she ’ s thinking about , having that time for herself . But on this particular night , it ’ s relentless ... that people want to communicate and eventually she surrenders to that , which is part of the joy of the film , I think .”
Shift was one of two films awarded ECU Commissions : the Arts in society grants earlier this year by the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts ( WAAPA ) and ECU ’ s School of Nursing and Midwifery to create artistic works that celebrated the 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife , and was open to any ECU alumni .
“ We have this wonderful opportunity to create characters and bring them to life .
Hanson-Searle ’ s long journey to Shift started at age 17 when she trained at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children ( PMH ) in the Perth suburb of Subiaco for in-hospital nurse training .
She eventually went to WAAPA and more recently did bachelor ’ s degrees in communication , screenwriting and producing , all while acting on film and nursing casually .
Professor Di Twigg AM from ECU ’ s School of Nursing and Midwifery said 2020 could not have been a more fitting year to celebrate the work of nurses and midwives .
“ COVID-19 has highlighted the amazing work that nurses and health care workers do every day ,” Twigg said .
“ We wanted this project to highlight and recognise nurses and midwives for their courage , commitment , knowledge , resilience , advocacy and persistence in many varied circumstances .”
And Hanson-Searle hopes her work , and her representation of nurses , will do just that , as well as highlight the importance of connecting with other people in tough times .
“[ Nurses ] matter . The work nurses do is absolutely important . That compassion matters . That we need time for compassion , and we mustn ’ t lose that time as technology and efficiency increases in the workplace . We must be vigilant about the time that we need to be compassionate for ourselves and for our patients as well .” ■
nursingreview . com . au | 25