This week the clinical nurse specialist made her final rounds in the unit after 35 years on the job.
She was only supposed to be filling in, but found she loved the environment where colleagues were "like family" and everyone was passionate about what they were doing.
It was an environment where everyone gave "110%" to their work, she said.
Her feelings on her final day were mixed.
"I’m sad that I’m going, but I think that I’ve left a good legacy in the ICU."
She was looking forward to retirement and joining a quilting club, spending more time with family, and travelling overseas.
Over the decades, she had witnessed plenty of changes at the hospital, including in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Nursing had shifted from being very task-oriented to providing personalised care, which made a "huge difference" to patients and families.
Watching long-term patients recover and eventually go home was always special.
Some of her favourite memories in the ICU involved taking patients outside to enjoy some sunshine,or further afield to the museum or beach.
With expertise in a range of areas such as sepsis and shock, respiratory failure and cardiac assessment her role extended beyond the unit itself.
She had been a member of the ICU flight team, and shared her knowledge as a nurse educator, clinical skills tutor and professional teaching fellow at the University of Otago.
A winner of the Otago Nursing Excellence Awards, her advice to people starting out in nursing was to put patients first and see each person as an opportunity to create a positive experience.
A good pair of sports shoes were also a "nurse’s best friend" and worth investing in.
ICU charge nurse manager Carla Snow said her personalised teaching style helped many stressed nurses and doctors to pass courses she was lecturing.
ICU service manager Shayne Wylie said that ICU would not be what it was now without the contribution Ms Grady had made to its functioning and culture.
"Many of us have benefited from the light Linda Grady touch and are better people and practitioners as a result."
