Selfless nurse with an enormous heart

The late Joyce (Joy) Buckland (1931-2022)

Joy Buckland devoted her life to helping people. This was evident through her nursing career in Geelong and the wider Melbourne community.

Joy trained as a general nurse at the Ballarat Base Hospital before specialising in Orthopaedics at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She held several positions, including ‘Nurses Charge’ and Director of Education in Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Joy was also the Director of Nursing Education at Geelong Hospital and was instrumental in the establishment of the Bachelor of Nursing at Deakin University.

Joy travelled extensively in the early days to England, Scotland and New Zealand to further her knowledge and gain experience in particularly the field of paediatrics. She was an enormous influence in the nursing community and a wonderful mentor to many people.

As the matriarch to her extended family, Joy was often looking out for opportunities to support her family members. She was a very compassionate and philanthropic person who liked to help others, and she supported many worthwhile charities in her lifetime.

Whilst she did not have heart problems herself, she was very involved in supporting her brother-in-law who was born with a hole in his heart (‘atrial septal defect’) and had a long battle with heart problems, including a failed aorta valve transplant, increasing her interest to support the work of the Heart Foundation.

Joy started supporting the Heart Foundation in 1987 and made the generous decision to include a gift in her Will to support future generations of heart health.

The Heart Foundation is grateful for gifts in Wills supporters like Joy who made the important and kind decision many years ago to leave a legacy that would impact future generations.