Working as a registered nurse at Griffith Base Hospital in the children’s ward, he says the job chose him

“It chose me, well not that I didn’t choose to do it, but it fell into my lap in a sense.

“My first placement happened to be the kids ward, and I’d never worked with kids before, and once I started that was it.

“I was working as in Health and Security in Hervey Bay then here, and I would assist the kids who had to get X-rays.”

He said, hands down the kids were the best part.

“It’s great, the kids and I can just run amock with, and even the parents, they are just like mates, we all get to be mates.”

While it is incredibly rewarding to see a sick kid get better, there is that flip side.

“There was a little fella who was really sick, he pretty much lived here for months. He was a beautiful child, he ended up passing away.

“But he was the type of kid, the family was beautiful, and he will always be one that stays with me, as he was the first one in my time here, not on me, but one I’d worked so long with that passed away. He went peacefully...and we were blessed to have him in our presence.”

But with the sad comes the incredible, and every kid and their unique qualities stays with him.

“We had a kid come in who had a stroke...two weeks later he actually walked in - and I didn’t think that he ever would.”

The camaraderie in the ward mirrors those in other wards, and Mr Halliburton enjoys teaching tips and tricks to the newbies who come through.

“There are tips and tricks to handling different age groups. Even months can make a big difference, between six to 18 months they can get skeptical, like ‘I don’t know you’.

“You always reassure them, and that's why we have these fun scrubs, it makes us more approachable. They can relate to whatever they are - like mine are Marvell-themed today.”

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He said the staff do “damn good jobs” but there are also challenges that can make it difficult.

“When we are restricted by budgets, or with the redevelopment, it’s the unknown - it’s one of those things that’s out of our hands at a local level."

While rarely a physically demanding job, the demands and mental strain come from looking after the parents as well as their young patients.

“You are looking after the parents as well, their well-being and consciences, making sure they leave knowing what they want to know ... we make sure we tell them as much as we can so they feel comfortable if something happens again.”

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