We are helping a high flying nurse to celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS in an unusual way.

Jen Street is a bank nurse mainly working in the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary but she also has circus skills under her belt.

She plans to combine more than 20 years experience in the NHS with her passion for performance to produce a theatre piece called Why Do We  Care? here at The Dukes.

Jen, who lives in Ulverston, is of Jamaican and English heritage so is particularly keen to hear from all the cultures who make the NHS one of the most representative workforces in the world.

“My main focuses will be celebrating the diversity of the NHS and hearing why people from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic(BAME) backgrounds come to work here,” said Jen.

“Working in the NHS is a really special privilege but also can be devastating. It’s one of the most difficult jobs, physically and emotionally.”

Jen was an auxiliary nurse for 15 years before becoming a registered nurse six years ago.

Prior to her nursing career, she attended Circus Central circus and physical theatre school in Newcastle, specialising in acrobatics and aerial.

Why Do We Care? will be her first indoor work as she’s previously appeared in street theatre and flashmobs.

Jen hopes to use her physical theatre and acrobatic skills to reflect the very physical and busy sides to nursing. She will work with theatre professionals in preparation for her performance here in January.

Jen would like nurses from across the North West to shed light on the beauty of their profession by telling her why they nurse and explaining their approach to care and how they see diverse cultural heritage as being key to the respect, dignity and compassion that patients receive.

She would like to hear from NHS nurses past and present working in all sectors from medical to mental health.

They are invited to email their thoughts and stories by December 31 to nhswhydoyoucare@gmail.com or call 01524 220187 and leave a voicemail.

Why Do We Care? is a project by The Dukes in association with Tamasha Theatre Company, funded by Arts Council England’s Sustained Theatre Fund and supported by University Hospitals of Morecambe NHS Foundation Trust.