FOUR fantastic nurses who combined have given more than a century of service to a Greenock care firm have been recognised for their dedication with a prestigious national award.

Tracey McKechnie, Michael Baldi, Susan Patton and Caroline McFie recently received long service awards from the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland to commemorate their many years of work with Greenock Medical Aid Society (GMAS).

The group were presented with their awards at a recent ceremony in Greenock’s Bagatelle care home, which is one of two local run by GMAS.

Emma Legge, Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland’s professional nurse lead, joined GMAS chief executive Andrea Wyllie in congratulating the four staff members.

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Andrra told the Tele: “I was aware of the QNIS long service awards and I realised four of our nurses were well over 21 years service, between the four of them they actually had 109 years of service.

“We wanted to do something to honour that so we invited QNIS over and they presented the awards, did the certificates and some badges.

“We made it a special event and said something about each of them, it was really nice and I think they appreciated having that moment.

“It can be a hard job, a tough job and a very busy day so it was good to take a moment to recognise their dedicated service.

“We’ve very fortunate to have nurses that have stayed with us for that length of time and it’s not just our nurses, it’s our care staff and our support staff as well.

“These people have worked a long time going through Covid and they’ve stuck in there and stayed so they do deserve that time just to be told thank you and to know how grateful we are for their service.

“I look at these four today and their dedication, they always smile, they always turn up, and it can be tough, but they love it. We’re delighted with that.”

Tracey McKechnie, who has been with GMAS since 1996, said she was pleased to be given the recognition.

She said:  “It was very unexpected, I knew something was going on but I hadn’t been told the ins and outs.

“It’s nice to be appreciated.

“I didn’t realise the award was going to be so official, I thought it was just going to be a pat on the back.

“That was so special.

“Myself, Michael and Susan all started in the same year, and I’ve worked with Michael here at Bagatelle for 28 years, we’re like brother and sister basically.”

Tracey said there were a number of reasons she had stayed with GMAS all these years.

She added: “It’s teamwork with the staff, good staffing, the residents and just the whole atmosphere of the care home.

“I came here as a stepping stone 28 years ago and I loved it so much I stayed.

“It’s a wonderful place.”