Vanessa  "Vee" Harrison turned 60 and true to form, the lovely team in Sexual Health at Broad Street Plaza made it a special day for a special colleague.

Vee has lived and worked in Halifax all her life, only having a break from nursing to bring up her two children. She was a nurse cadet in 1975 before Nurse training in 1977. She worked for BUPA between 1988-1998 – we’ve always said she’s a bit posh! Between BUPA and sexual health she did Paediatric nursing at Calderdale Royal

Vee joined Genitourinary Medicine at Laura Mitchell in 2000 and is a highly valued member of the now Integrated Sexual Health team at Broad Street. Comms asked Liz Todd all about their special team.

You obviously have a lovely team – what makes it special?

We are a comedy team and love to get involved with the Trust events … and are regular winners!  We have lots of social events as a team and have a laugh.  We’re known as the Sex Family! We care about our patients and staff alike.

What makes Vee special?

Vee has a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone – family, friends and colleagues.  She is always happy to help out and covers/swaps shifts even at short notice.  She goes above and beyond her role and is an amazing nurse and person.

She’s a mum and grandma to her family, but also other team members.  In fact one of our younger Health Care Assistants said she’s her work Grandma!  Which is a compliment, but she is a very glamorous Grandma and always looks very fashionable and "gawjus darlings"!

Any comedy moments involving Vee?

There are probably many, but the only one that we can actually write about is when she was going to a Masquerade Ball and brought in some fabulous masks.  Vee and Ann (one of our HCAs) hid behind Dr Nur’s door and scared him to death!  Dr Nur was a speciality doctor who worked with GUM for a while in 2007-8.