Bittersweet Memories for aspiring nurse

It was in her grandmother's final moments at Blacktown Hospital that Claudine Pizarro knew she wanted to become a nurse. 

Ms Pizarro's beloved grandmother, Prudence Fuertes, was admitted to Blacktown Hospital after her health continued to deteriorate three years ago. 

Mrs Fuertes, 88, started to lose her vision and stopped eating.

"After my grandfather died in 1997, she would be admitted to hospital several times but she would make it through every single time," Ms Pizarro said.

"That was why it was so hard for me to accept that she had passed away. I really thought she would get through it."

After seeing the nurses go above and beyond to help her grandmother, Ms Pizarro, 20, knew she wanted to join the profession.

"I knew I wanted to help people with their problems and thought I would do counselling," she said.

"When I saw how some of the nurses treated the patients at Blacktown Hospital in such a positive way, I knew I wanted to become a nurse.

"They chose to work and help people they don't even know.

"I really don't know what I would do if I wasn't becoming a nurse."

Ms Pizarro began her nursing studies in 2014 at Western Sydney University's Parramatta campus.

Read the full story in the Daily Telegraph Local News (opens in a new window)