The “wise old owl” of the Monklands microbiology department has taken to the wing after an impressive 50 years with the NHS.
Biomedical Scientist Jim Donnelly has spent 48 of those enjoyable years with colleagues at University Hospital Monklands, gaining the wealth of experience that earned him his nickname.
Jim, 69, began his working life in the labs at Strathclyde Hospital in his home town of Motherwell in 1974, before moving to Monklands in 1976.
He said he’d seen plenty of changes in practice and technology down the decades.
“I was at Dalziel High School and the careers officer knew I was interested in science. The local NHS had a number of vacancies in labs. Just like today, there were a lot of people reaching retirement at the same time.
“I got the job and learned with the help of college day release and evening classes. Things were different back then – the consultant would come into the lab puffing on his pipe!
“Over the years I became a bit of an expert on parasites and colleagues would ask my advice on them. We saw some unusual examples from people who’d been abroad to places such as Africa.
“The hospital had a brush with the Ebola virus at one point but nothing compares to the COVID pandemic. We didn’t know anything about the disease at first and we were working round the clock to do testing. We were provided with some great equipment to help us screen for the virus – it was a unique moment in my career.”
A host of colleagues, past and present, crammed the Microbiology tea room to give Jim a send-off.
They presented him with a novel gift – a bottle of whisky with a picture inside it of a staph aureus bacterium, one of the bugs Jim has seen many times through his microscope.
Microbiology Technical Manager Sandra Mitchell said: “All Jim’s friends and ‘work family’ wish him a happy retirement as he hangs up his lab coat for the last time.”
Jim is looking forward to family time with his wife and two daughters and pursuing his hobby of photography.
