Norfolk community nurse uses tractor to get through snow

A dedicated community nurse has ploughed on to treat young patients in the heavy snow by turning up in her tractor. On Monday, Charlotte Perry-Warnes, a children’s community nurse at the Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust (NCH&C), took everything she needed in the Fastrac tractor to visit young patients across North Norfolk, as they would have had to have travelled to hospital. The 31-year-old, from Saxthorpe, was driven by her husband Jamie and described seeing cars buried in the snow.

As she arrived at her patients’ homes, she described the look of surprise on their faces to see her arrive in a tractor. Mrs Perry-Warnes said: “I do know how to drive a tractor but my husband drove it for me with the weather being so bad.  “Everyone was so very grateful that we got there.

It saved all four of them having to go to the Norfolk and Norwich had we not got to them. 

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“They [the patients] were shocked.

One of the mums cried when we get there as she thought her son wasn’t going to be seen and would have to try and get him to the hospital. She didn’t have to do that. “It did take a little longer but it was the safest thing to do.” 

The children’s community team support young patients with complex needs, helping provide care at home, which may include feeding tubes, blood sampling and intravenous antibiotics. Among those that Mrs Perry-Warnes visited was Nicola Stokes’s daughter Hannah, 10, who has just finished chemotherapy treatment for stage three ovarian cancer.

Hannah Stokes, 10, pictured with the nurse’s tractor. – Credit: NCHC Mrs Stokes, from Roughton, said: “When we saw the amount of snow we didn’t think there was any way anyone was going to get out to us and we would have been unable to make it to the NNUH for Hannah to be seen.

However a tractor arrives at our gates and out emerged Charlotte. Hannah was so excited. We were ever so thankful that Charlotte’s dedication and quick thinking mean that Hannah still received her care.

“Charlotte’s always been amazing but she really outdid herself.” The children’s community nurse first visited two-year-old Florrie Holiday, who lives in Brandiston, who required her blood taken. Florrie has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment since September and is visited by the team every week.

Hayley Holiday with her daughter Florrie.

She has praised the nurse for her efforts to come out to them in the snow. – Credit: Hayley Holiday Florrie’s mum Hayley said: “She called around 7am and said she was going in her husband’s farm truck. We thought it would be a 4×4 or something like that then she arrived in a humungous tractor.

She didn’t make a big deal about it. “Where we live is in the middle of nowhere and we have had really bad snow. For Charlotte to make the effort to come here to take Florrie’s blood is amazing.

They are such an amazing team.  “Florrie loves tractors, it was one of her first words, as there are lots of tractors and farms around us. She looked out the window and was waving.”

“It put a smile on our faces, it made us all smile at quite a difficult time.” 

Rebecca Osborne’s design praising the children’s community nursing team member for her efforts. – Credit: Rebecca Osborne

Mrs Perry-Warne’s actions have been praised on social media, with artist Rebecca Osborne creating this design which reads: “Not all superheroes wear capes, some brave the snow to care for their patients.”