Ailsa Stewart, a now voluntary archivist, has been recognised as one of 100 Zonta women of achievement as part of their international centennial celebrations. Photo / Lucy Drake
Ailsa Stewart, a now voluntary archivist, has been recognised as one of 100 Zonta women of achievement as part of their international centennial celebrations. Photo / Lucy Drake
If you do not know her name you may have seen Ailsa Stewart's archived photographs on the walls of Whanganui Hospital.
Or you be familiar with some of her work on the Whanganui District Council.
A former nurse, a district health board member and a district councillor are just someof a few roles Stewart held within the community.
Now, Stewart has been recognised as one of the 100 Zonta New Zealand Women of Achievement.
The award highlights the contribution made by the 100 women and how it continues to make a significant difference in the lives of women and girls and the community.
A Zonta Whanganui spokesperson said Stewart received her award for devoting her life and career to caring for others, particularly women, children and the elderly.
Stewart joined Zonta Whanganui in 1998 and said Whanganui is very lucky to have a club especially in a small provincial town.
"It's very important that in a mostly female profession that one must keep socialisation, the importance of socialisation and working in the community is terribly important and I liked the objectives of Zonta."
After completing both her general registered nurse and Plunket nurse training, Stewart's nursing career took her to Scotland in 1971 where she worked as a midwife and then returned to Wellington to carry out advanced nursing studies.
When she returned to Whanganui she was appointed to the maternity unit where she spent 14 years integrating maternity into the general side of the hospital.
Ailsa Stewart when she was still on the Whanganui District Health Board, holding one of 500 bricks saved from Whanganui Hospital's maternity unit before it was demolished. Photo / File
During that time the New Zealand Government sent her to the Kingdom of Tonga to use her nursing skills.
After being made redundant in 1992 after Simon Upton's arrival as Minister of Health, she was appointed principal of nursing in the Solomon Islands at the Helena Goldie Hospital.
A year later when returning home on July 1, 1996, Stewart helped start the first nursing service in Whanganui and in 2000 took up a teaching role for caregivers.
"We could see that caregivers were the people of the future looking after folk in their own home and they needed training and so I took up the role of training under the auspices under the health education trust."
Being a district councillor for nine years she was asked with four organisations that included chairing the community development organisation and the horticultural society.
Stewart is also a life member of the National Council of Women.
And if her career efforts were not enough Stewart is also on the Positive Aging committee, on the board of Alzheimers New Zealand and is part of the Castlecliff Community Charitable Trust.
Retired after 55 years in her profession, Stewart is now a voluntary archivist for both Zonta Whanganui and the Whanganui hospital, giving around 30 hours a week.
Stewart said society and women's rights have dramatically changed over the years and women have had to fight hard for them to change.
"Working women now is acceptable, children or no children, is now acceptable and it is recognised we give a very valuable amount to the community."
Stewart received the Women's Suffrage Medal in 1993 and in 2006 received the Queen's Service Order.
The women of Zonta celebrated Stewart alongside their international centennial.
