After more than 40 years of serving as a nurse for Red Cross, Dubbo's Kay Poulter said the time has come for her to put the gloves away.
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Mrs Poulter officially retired after having worked her last day at the Dubbo Blood Bank on Wednesday, stating it was time to focus on herself and her family after a long life of hard work.
"It's exciting, but it's also sad," she said.
Mrs Poulter's long journey with Blood Bank Australia stemmed from her mother, who was a cleaner at one of the hospitals.
"I always wanted to be a nurse from when I was at school, I'm passionate about what we do here," she said.
"I did my training and enrolled in a hospital, and then in 1973, I moved to Dubbo, and that's when I married my husband.
"I've been out at Wongarbon for 31 years."
Mrs Poulter said there a many highlights of her career that she will remember, especially the friendships she has developed with the colleges and the donors.
"I'm the longest-serving nurse now, and just getting to know the staff and the comradery you form over the years, and with the donors, because a lot of donors start coming regularly, and all of the changes throughout the years like going from glass bottles to plastic backs to store the blood," Mr Poulter said reflecting on some of her happy memories.
Mrs Poulter has worked alongside a fellow nurse, Debbie Gardner for more than twenty years, and according to Mrs Gardner "she will be enormously missed".
"Kay's role has changed over the years, and she's embraced it every step of the way, to get to forty years is just amazing.
"She's going to be enormously missed by the donors. Obviously, you build a pretty close relationship with a lot of them over time, and our plasma donors come every two weeks.
"These people become not just your donors a sort of family.
"We wish her all of the best for the future, she's done an amazing job over the years and she will be greatly missed.
"She's the chief needle putter-inner, and now it's time for her to put her needle arm to rest and pick up the hockey stick," Ms Gardner said of the 2014 Hockey Masters World Cup representative.
Mrs Poulter said she loves her job, and feeling rewarded being able to do something she knows will help save the lives of many people, but it's time.
"Someone once told me you will know when you're ready to retire, and I thought, how do you know? But now I understand, it's time," she said.
Mrs Poulter said she would be back to the Blood Bank for visits and to donate blood herself, but now her focus will be on spending time with her family, exploring hobbies and playing Hockey, another thing she is passionate about.
One of Mrs Poulter's last donors was Dubbo resident Terry Mazzer, a regular who donates around every six weeks.
"Everyone here is happy and friendly," Mr Mazzer said.