Although many people find it hard to overcome stress in the workplace, one hospital worker has found her own answer to life in a hectic job.

Shirley Wallen, who has worked at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for the last 37 years, has found "peace" on the job through God.

In her longest full-time job as an admitting porter, Ms Wallen helps keep the organisation of the hospital under control.

Armed with patients' charts, every morning the 57-year-old takes the charts, which contain a floor census showing how many beds are empty, to medical records.

Other day-to-day assignments include taking patients' charts for pre-admission, taking patients to dialysis and transporting specimens to the lab.

Working off a beeper and having her work assigned to her by the admitting clerks, Ms Wallen's days can get hectic. But with God in her life her short temper has been quelled and a new perspective of her job has made every day more enjoyable.

"Where I got my peace was when I went back to church," she said. "This year I have been at peace at work and I think my supervisor has seen that peace because of God in my life.

"I can come to work, and work used to get on my nerves, but now when I work it's peace and harmony," she added.

She came back to Bermuda after spending time at school in the US and worked three or four small jobs before coming to work at the hospital as a housekeeper in the nurses' quarters. She later moved to housekeeping in the wards.

"This is the longest job I've ever had. I've been here as long as my oldest child. I had to leave in the beginning because back then there was no maternity leave. But it's just like any job ? you have your odd days but I'm contented now."

Back in the late 1960s when she began working at KEMH, the hospital was much smaller and was housed in the building that is now part of the Department of Education on Point Finger Road.

"As modern techniques have been brought into the hospital things have changed. The hospital has gotten more modern," she said.

"When we were over on the old side there was a whole heap of patients in a room. Now you only have four patients in a public room. It's a lot more comfortable for the patient but it has been a big change. Patients didn't have telephones or TV but they are trying to make them more comfortable and more homey," she said.

Other contributions to a more organised day include having patients arrive for pre-admission a few days before operations instead of spending the night before an operation in the hospital.

"The system has changed and it has been less hectic. Once I took a patient, who wasn't feeling very well up to a ward. I called her name and she must not have been paying attention and she came with me and I put her up in a bed. Come to find out I had taken the wrong patient, she was meant to be in the Emergency Room. I was just so busy," she explained with a chuckle.

"But the reason we're here is for the patient."

And she added that she wouldn't feel comfortable working anywhere else but the hospital.

"I don't think I could work no where else. This place is like family and I've seen plenty of people come and go but this is the place where I know everyone," she said.

Two of her other anti-stress methods include shopping and travelling. But April will mark a year since she learned the power of attending church.

Last Friday, Ms Wallen was awarded by the Bermuda Hospitals Board for her lengthy service to the hospital but her goal is to reach the 40-year mark.

"I've been working here for a long time. I'm either going to retire or die here ? which ever comes first."