FORTY-TWO years as the face of the Western District Health Service is an incredible achievement, and that’s how long Annie Spark’s friendly and familiar smile has brightened the lives of the thousands of people of all ages who have walked through the front doors of the Hamilton Base Hospital.

Appropriately and affectionately known as ‘Sparky’, her friendly and reliable nature has been synonymous with the hospital’s caring environment for more than four decades.

The now-retired esteemed work colleague, Ms Spark spent her last day in the office last week, surrounded by towers of flowers created by her work mates, testament to the love and appreciation for her service.

Looking back over the years Ms Spark said one of the biggest changes that occurred in the workplace was the advent of computers.

“That was a bit drastic,” she said.

 Ms Spark said at that point in time Les Patyi was in charge of the hospital including information technology.

“We had to get him to help if anything went wrong,” she said.

“He’d say, ‘Is it turned on? Is it plugged in?’” she laughed.

Another major change Ms Spark said she had observed was the way people addressed coworkers in the workplace; it went from addressing people according to their job title to now calling people by their first name.

“When I started it was nurse, sister, or doctor - that’s all changed,” she said.

She also said that over the years patients were travelling longer and longer distances to come to the hospital for services.

“It certainly brings them from further afield - Hamilton’s the umbrella for capturing those patients.”

Ms Spark also reflected on the number of people she had trained on the front desk during her tenure.

“I’ve trained an awful lot of people - it would be more than 50 - at one point there was about four in six months.

Most compelling of all for Ms Spark was the friendships she said she had forged over the years.

“I will miss the people I worked with - the switchboard crew has always been very good,” she said.

Ms Spark said she was looking forward to spending time in her garden and on the farm with her animals.

“Things like that,” she said.

Ms Spark is also a volunteer with Hamilton and District Legacy.

“I’ve got Legacy - now I’ll be able to spend more time there … I’d like to help out more with that than I have been able to in the past.”