“They were the guinea pigs, essentially setting the standards on whether the nursing school would succeed and be sustainable in growing our own nurses for Tairāwhiti,” White said.
“Previously, would-be nurses had to uplift whānau and move or travel to other areas where nursing training was offered.
“We had humble beginnings, equipped with one classroom, no clinical lab [and] a couple of blood pressure cuffs to practise on each other.
“Twenty years on, the nursing programme continues, having advanced from the one classroom to a fully equipped onsite clinical lab and classroom.
“Where are those first graduates now?”
White said they had all become successful in their own specialties and the majority were still nursing in New Zealand.
“Only a few moved to Australia,” she said. “This era has been through [the] Covid pandemic, nurse strikes - successful in improving pay conditions for nurses.”
She had advice to nurses in what was “a very political” current health environment.
“Resilience is key. Remember why you chose nursing as your career pathway.”
