More than three decades after she began work at Ashford Hospital Mrs Gera Alongi has retired.  She is well known throughout the hospital and has worked in virtually every ward area, including the old wards before the new hospital was built in the early 1990s. 

Patient Service Assistant, Gera, who came to Staines from Sicily, has been serving breakfast, lunch and tea and coffee in between from 7am -1.30pm every weekday for 32.5 years.  In the early days she also turned her hand to ward cleaning.

Said Chaucer Ward PA Lynn English:  “We have known each other for almost 20 years and I have the greatest admiration forGera.  She has been a real asset to every ward that she has worked in – she’s always cheerful and takes a great pride in her job, but she also has the talent of being sensitive to the needs of the patients who may be feeling poorly.”

Apart from a small farewell party at the hospital her colleagues took Gera out for a surprise meal at her nephew’s restaurant, Palazzo, in Molsey.  Retirement gifts included a Grandmother Clock and a designer broach.