After a fluke introduction to nursing, Margaret Norris is still a registered nurse and loving it 50 years later.
Norris, known to her colleagues as Marg, celebrated half a century of service at Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital last week.
She fell into nursing at 18 years old by tagging along with a friend looking for a job.
"I didn't know what to do and one of my friends said 'I'm going to the hospital to talk to them about being a nurse but I don't want to go alone'," Norris said.
"Mum said 'just go' so off we went and came out with a job."
Since then Norris attained a Diploma in Medical and Surgical Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing.
Having worked in the Intensive Care Unit and the surgical, orthopaedic and paediatric wards, she described the changes to healthcare she has seen over the years as "unbelievable".
In more than three decades working for the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit and Acute Pain Service, Norris observed a huge improvement in pain management.
"Back in the day it was all through tablets and intramuscular injections and now we have the options of using epidurals, patient-controlled analgesia and intravenous pain relief," she said.
Norrishas also seen shortened operation times for cataract surgery and tonsil removal, a "totally different" hospital layout and countless restructures of nursing.
"Back then people that had cataracts were fully bed-bound for five days with a head bandage whereas today they go home in an hour - because techniques have changed," she said.
Norris' fondest memories are all around her colleagues and patients, like the near-death man she spent months caring for before seeing him again a decade later.
Sharing laughs with colleagues is something she considers essential to the job.
"Young male patients who would come in with fractured femurs and would have the odd beer so we would say 'Quick, quick! Hide your beer, the matron is coming!' and they would throw their beer in their urinals," Norris said.
The milestone was celebrated by Norris and her colleagues at Hawke's Bay Hospital last Wednesday when she was presented with a certificate and service badge.
She said she has no plans on retiring any time soon:
"We'll all be here on our Zimmer frames."