It was a golden moment for the staff on Ward B11 of Forth Valley Royal as Olympic golden girl Vicky Wright returned for her first shift since Beijing.
Vicky, who claimed the top honour at the Winter Olympics as part of the Team GB curling team, also works on Ward B11 at the hospital as a surgical nurse away from the ice.
For her big return, the ward was decked out in flowers, balloons, bunting and a special cake – with staff all keen to give Vicky a big welcome back as well as sneaking a peek of her gold medal.
Vicky had reduced her hours after working on the frontline against Covid-19 to focus on her training at The PEAK in Stirling as part of Eve Muirhead’s rink for the Winter Olympics and still says bringing home the prized medal hasn’t fully sunk in.
She said: “I keep looking down at my medal and thinking what have we just achieved?
“Being back home now for a few days and managing to catch up with friends and family and seeing their reaction and how proud they are of all of us and the boys too, it’s been amazing. I’m so proud of what we achieved.
“I am excited to be back to work and see everyone at the hospital. I have missed being in the ward and I’m ready to get back to some sense of normality.
“I wouldn’t have my gold medal around my neck if it wasn’t for all my colleagues. They have supported me so well and this medal is as much theirs as mine. To be honest I don’t know what the future holds now.
“We still have a couple of competitions this season and I will continue to work a shift at the hospital every week until the season is finished and then take it from there.”
While Vicky swept and threw her way to gold, her colleagues on the ward back home were putting in the hours through the night to follow her every step.
Meanwhile, staff on Ward B11 also wore special badges throughout the Olympics with ‘Go Vicky, B11’s Olympic curler’, which soon became a talking point with local patients also keen to follow Vicky’s progress.
Lisa McCann, senior staff nurse in Ward B11, said: “She’s certainly done us proud. I only had two hours’ sleep the night she got the gold as myself and five other staff linked up through FaceTime to watch the final live.
“We were all crying when we saw her being presented with her medal, it was just great. She has thanked us for all our support, messages, and congratulations, and says she couldn’t have done it without us.”
Fellow Ward B11 staff nurse Kay Russell, added: “It’s an amazing achievement.
“I thought she would be quite emotional when she saw the ward being decked out and knew how much we had been supporting her to achieve her Olympic dream.
“Everyone in the ward was rooting for Vicky and the team.”
