A well-deserved honour
January’s 2024 New Year Honours list included two well-respected and much-admired Western Isles names: Mrs Malina Macleod MBE, Lochportain, North Uist and Mr Norman A “Dokus” Macdonald OBE, Uig, Lewis.
Making the announcement last month, Iain Macaulay, Lord-Lieutenant for the Western Isles, said:
”The honours system offers public recognition to people from all walks of life who have given exceptional service and made a difference in their community. I am therefore delighted that Mrs Malina Macleod MBE and Mr Norman A “Dokus” Macdonald OBE have been named in the 2024 New Year Honours list. They have both provided outstanding service, in their various roles, for a considerable length of time.”
A former Matron of Lochmaddy Hospital for many years, Malina was the first Deputy Manager of the Uist and Barra Hospital in Benbecula when it opened in 2001, and went on to take the Manager’s role a few years later.
Since her retirement from the nursing profession, Mrs MacLeod has worked as a highly-valued and much sought after home-carer for local charity Tagsa Uibhist, where she has been described as ‘always going the extra mile’. Her patients and clients speak appreciatively of her devotion, skills and caring abilities.
In his statement of recognition, the Lord Lieutenant said: “Mrs Malina Macleod MBE has dedicated herself to a career in nursing and social care, spanning a period of over 60 years; her commitment and service to the North Uist community has been truly outstanding.”
Mrs MacLeod told Am Pàipear of her surprise at the news: “I’m shocked and still can’t believe it has happened!”
She continued:
“I was a medical nurse all my life. I could never go into a surgical ward without feeling nauseous!
“I don’t think I was a good manager but I was a team player and it became clear things were changing over quite a number of the early years. Bringing together two different cultures was very hard, but assuring that all would work out was the hardest and most difficult time in my whole career.
“I will never forget the day the last patient left Lochmaddy Hospital. I went to my office and wept before someone came to take a photo as I locked the door.
“I missed the chat and good fun we had but it continued. For me management was a hurdle and I was always happy to challenge, but it was always important to go back to what I knew well – caring for the most vulnerable.”
Retired Councillor and Convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Norman MacDonald was awarded an OBE. He has a long record of public duty, both in his native Uig and across the Western Isles thorough his work with the Comhairle, and until very recently, served as a Watch Commander with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
