Heroes of Orbis: Angela Purcell

Angela’s journey to nursing began the day she was a patient for the first time. Inspired by the care she received, she decided to leave her legal career behind and make the switch to nursing.

While training at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London more than two decades ago, Angela had a chance encounter with Orbis at a conference which sparked her interest, but the timing was never right: “I promised myself: ‘One day, when I'm a qualified ophthalmic nurse, I will give freely of my services to this organization’”. Fast forward to 2012, and she decided to bite the bullet and apply to join our Volunteer Faculty:

Her dream became reality when just a few months after this she was appointed as Orbis’s Head Nurse. During her time with Orbis, Angela has travelled the world, sharing her knowledge and passion for infection control and emergency preparedness in patient care – two topics that have become ever more important during the pandemic.

Angela’s understanding of the importance of these areas has contributed to the Flying Eye Hospital achieving AAAASF accreditation, the gold standard for patient safety—something we are all incredibly proud of.

During the pandemic, face-to-face training was temporarily put on hold, but this didn't stop Angela. She led her team to transform their approach and move training programs online, making use of our telemedicine platform Cybersight to ensure we continued to support our partners throughout the pandemic.

Mentoring others to develop in their practice is something that brings Angela great joy. She tells us what she finds so rewarding about this is seeing others progress, build their confidence, and most importantly of all, take on the role of trainer themselves!

Angela’s passion for her work shines through when we speak to her “I am a nurse after all, and we always tell from the heart”, she tells us.

We couldn’t do what we do without you Angela – your dedication and exemplary leadership are helping us transform patient care across the globe.

We want to say a big thank you to Angela. Your extraordinary commitment and dedication means we're able to save sight all over the world — even during the pandemic.