Home

Nurses honoured

Midwest Times
Nathalie Pass with Gloria Masekane.
Camera IconNathalie Pass with Gloria Masekane.

Nurses from the Mid West have won four of 12 categories in the 2019 WA Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards.

The winners include nurses based at Northampton and Exmouth, along with a nurse from South Africa who immigrated about a decade ago and now works in remote WA.

Gloria Masekane, who won the rural and remote health category, lives and works at Mount Magnet Nursing Post, where she also manages nursing centres at Cue, Yalgoo and Sandstone.

Cue is the closest, 80km from Mount Magnet, while Ms Masekane’s line manager is 200km away. She was praised because of her compassion, empathy and independence, with judges told many staff wanted to return to work with her at Mount Magnet because of her leadership and guidance.

Other winners were:

Exmouth Hospital advanced skills enrolled nurse Patricia Tolland, for excel-lence in enrolled nursing.

Northampton Hospital nurse manager Di Smith, joint winner of the excellence in primary, public, community and residential care category.

WA Country Health Service Mid West director of nursing and health service manager Nathalie Pass, for excellence in leadership.

Ms Tolland was praised for having a caring nature which did not end when she left the hospital, as she delivered home-cooked meals to those in need.

Judges were told of Ms Smith’s passion for aged care and her fond saying “every moment matters”.

They were touched by an experience relayed in her nomination about caring for a patient at the end of life and on the same day delivering a baby.

Ms Pass was described as an exceptional, committed leader who went “above and beyond”, managing teams across Mullewa, Morawa and Three Springs Health Services.

Judges were told she worked hard to provide staff with the same opportunities as those working in larger organisations.

WA Country Health Service executive director of nursing and midwifery services, Marie Baxter, said the awards were a “fantastic reflection of the quality of healthcare in the Mid West”.

“Not only that but I am extremely proud that eight of the 12 winners in this year’s awards are from regional WA,” she said.

“I believe it is a reflection of the quality of the people working in country health and the fact our teams and services are at the very heart of the communities we serve.”

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails