12/05/2026
Proud to be a nurse! What a career … so far. 30 years of nursing has seen me through so many settings and experiences, including- paediatrics, mental health, rest home care, orthopaedics, oncology, haematology, palliative care and public health nursing - all before going on maternity leave with Kyla. I came back and went into 15 years at the Waikato public health unit specialising in communicable diseases and outbreak control. I took a break during that time for mat leave with Angelina. I took a break from public health after 15 years and tried my hand in primary health managing the B4 schools programme, then wellness coaching, when I became unwell and was off work for a year with a new auto immune disease. I came back to work very part time and in my safe space back with Waikato public health on fixed term COVID contracts in clinical and ops advisory roles. An opportunity arose to work in commissioning - budgeting for and funding the national rheumatic fever activities. I thought I hated budgets but it turns out I’m pretty good with them and enjoyed commissioning a lot. From there into an exciting role as clinical director of nursing for the Te Manawa Taki region with National public health service - covering from the west coast of Taranaki to the east coast of Tairawhiti and everything in between. My current role is nurse lecturer for postgraduate students at the University of Auckland, course directing my long term conditions paper and course coordinating our leadership papers. Every role has had many highlights. I have met some amazing humans along the way, experienced and done some cool things, and made life long friends. I truly couldn’t recommend nursing enough as a fantastic career choice.
