Derry launch for nurse's Troubles memoir: Class of '79

Stepping into the lion's den: Liz Laird (circled) travelled from rural Leitrim to join the January 1979 student nursing intake at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Many of the group, including Liz, would leave the troubled North after qualifying as nurses – at least eight went to Australia. Liz would later return from England to Derry, to raise her young family and become a staff nurse at Altnagelvin Hospital. She later took up a post of lecturer and course director at the School of Nursing at Magee and, while working at UU, studied and obtained her PhD.

"As a southern Protestant nurse in Belfast, Liz Laird gives a vivid take on the Northern Troubles, treating kneecapped boys and seeking peace in the Mournes..."

Former Magee lecturer Dr Liz Laird will return to Derry next month to launch her memoir 'The Troubled Adventures of a Student Nurse' at the city's Central Library on September 26.

Recounting Liz's time as a trainee at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital from 1979 to 1982, the book has been described by Naomi Long as "a fascinating insight into the trauma to which people were exposed whilst working in healthcare during the Troubles".

The book follows the young County Leitrim woman as she navigates her journey through war-torn Belfast, and charts the numerous experiences she gathered on the road.

At its core, this book conveys the compassion and humanity that can be found in the darkest of times. Liz takes you into the anaesthetic room and into the theatres. She also takes the reader around the Shankill, the Falls and Ballymurphy in their darkest hours.

Nursing professor Neal Cook describes the book as "a gift".

"It is a portal to understanding how a young woman navigated a time in history that shaped generations," he said, "an immersion into a world of accelerated adulthood and the real-

life impact of that tumultuous journey. It echoes the perpetual, human and whole core values of nursing and what it means to translate those to an authentic, person-centred approach to caring for people. What’s more, it brings those experiences of

life and practise back to how they shape lives indelibly.”

Colmcille Press Managing Editor Garbhán Downey presenting Liz Laird with the first copies of her memoir.

Colbert Kearney, Emeritus Professor at the Department of English, University College Cork praised Liz's work as having "heart and soul".

He commented: "As a southern Protestant nurse in Belfast, Liz Laird gives us a vivid take on the Northern Troubles, treating kneecapped boys and seeking peace in the Mournes."

'The Troubled Adventures of a Student Nurse', by Liz Laird will be launched at Derry Central Library by Felicity McCall on Saturday September 26 at noon.

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