Our Stories

In 2011, junior nurse Chicku Gheevarghese attended his first work Christmas party at Calvary Adelaide and literally brought a plate, as requested. “I went to Kmart and turned up with an empty plate. I didn’t understand that in Australia that meant to bring food to share,” he laughed as he retold one of his earliest memories.

Today, he is the Clinical Nurse Manager of the angio intervention suite managing 65 nurses, and can’t imagine working anywhere else.

   I remember my first week of orientation at Calvary Adelaide. Everything was new. A new place, new people, and a new culture. I realised how significant this moment was in my life. However, the great thing about Calvary Adelaide is that it feels like being part of a family.” Chicku said.

I was happy being a registered nurse for the rest of my life, but I’ve had a great manager who recognised my skills and identified a pathway for me and supported my studies so I could have more opportunities.”

Chicku said life as a nurse in India was very different, working in intensive care in a hospital where he would be rostered on the night shift for 15 days in a row. This had had a huge impact on his own health and wellbeing.

The decision to move to Adelaide came after some friends suggested trying something new. After completing his three-month registration course to practice nursing in Australia and passing an English proficiency test, he followed his passion for intensive care and cardiac nursing, applying to Calvary Adelaide.

   When I first started at Calvary I was working in a 37-bed cardiac unit, and now I’m managing a unit that covers cardiac, neuro, and vascular interventional treatment for people needing stents, angiograms, and stroke care,” he said.

Chicku is well settled in Australia, having met his wife in Adelaide and now a parent of two children.

   Calvary is the institution I thank for giving me opportunities, supporting my study and shaping me into the person I am today, while enabling me to be a nurse who makes a positive change in people’s lives every day,” he said.

I was happy being a registered nurse for the rest of my life, but I’ve had a great manager who recognised my skills and identified a pathway for me and supported my studies so I could have more opportunities.

For the past year Kaila has been a graduate nurse at Calvary St Luke’s Hospital in Launceston, and now she is one of the faces you may come across if you happen to be a patient having surgery. 

After completing a Bachelor of Nursing at University of Tasmania, Kaila chose to do her graduate year placement at Calvary, spending six months on a ward and six months in recovery and anaesthetics.

   I chose Calvary because the graduate nurse program is a lot more supportive than what you would experience at the public hospital,” Kaila said.

It’s great, you get more study days, which when you are learning are so important, and the resources around us at Calvary are great, including there being a lot more experienced nurses to work with.”

Kaila was inspired to be a nurse by her grandmother, who was a midwife, and her aunt, who was a nurse in the Australian army, and now she has the aspirational nurse educators and senior staff at Calvary St Luke’s spurring her on.

  When I started here in my graduate year I had a mix of anxiety and excitement, but after the year I have had at Calvary, I’ve agreed to stay on in theatres to learn more,” Kaila said.