Six Southland Nurses Recognised for Excellence

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Six Southland Nurses Recognised for Nursing Excellence at Last Night's Inaugural Awards

Six Southland nurses each received a $1000 scholarship in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Southland community last night, at the inaugural Southland Nursing Excellence Awards. The evening coincided with International Nurses' Day with nurses from across the region coming together to celebrate the nursing profession at a dinner and award evening.

The winners came from a range of nursing practice environments:

• Dawn Acker, SDHB Smokefree Support and Specialist Respiratory Nurse
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• Debora Anderson, Gore Community Mental Health Team
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• Val Boon, Southland Hospital Surgical Nurse and casual District Nurse
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• Toni Day, Invercargill Medical Centre Practice Nurse
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• Gaylene Hastie, Wakatipu Practice Nurse (sexual health and ski field nursing and other professional roles)
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• Bronwyn McBain, Alliance Lornville Occupational Health Nurse
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The six nurses were chosen out of 31 nominees across the community. The scholarships were funded by the Primary Health Organisations (PHOs), Southland District Health Board (SDHB) and the Violet McBain Trust. Ms McBain was a former patient of various departments at Southland Hospital who left a bequest to support nurses.

SDHB's Acting Director of Nursing said that the evening had been a tremendous success.

"Last night's awards were the first time Southland nurses have come together to celebrate each other's contribution and to formally recognise nursing excellence amongst our peers. Congratulations to the six scholarship recipients for the outstanding contribution that you bring to nursing in Southland," Mrs Radka said.

PHO professional nursing advisor, Wendy Findlay, said that the inaugural awards had been a joint initiative by the PHOs and SDHB and the scholarships would support the recipients to advance their professional development.

"Based on last night's success, we are confident that the Southland Nursing Excellence Awards will be become a key annual event on the nursing and health sector's calendar as we celebrate nurses for their innovation, clinical excellence, contribution to the community, leadership and research," Mrs Findlay said.

ENDS

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