Chief nursing officer Karyn Bousfield-Black (third from left) with the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation team at their nurses' station at Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldier's Memorial Hospital.
Hawke's Bay District Health Board's chief nurse wasn't sure if she would remain in nursing her whole career.
But 34 years later, Karyn Bousfield-Black, chief nursing officer at the DHB, reckons she wouldn't want to do anything else.
May 12 is International Nurses Day.
Bousfield-Black says it is an opportunity to acknowledge nurses for stepping up during the past two years.
Bousfield-Black says nurses across the health system have responded to the added pressure of Covid-19.
Nurses have shown incredible resilience and professionalism in the face of resourcing and staffing challenges, she says.
"I want to acknowledge and thank nurses for all they do for our communities.
"These last two years have reconfirmed why this is the profession for me, and how lucky I am to be working with such an amazing group of professionals."
Nursing is the largest group of health professionals in the country, with 62,342 people as at March 2021.
Nurses also have the broadest scope of practice, so this year's International Nurses Day theme, "A Voice to Lead - Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health", is fitting, says Bousfield-Black, a registered nurse since 1991.
"Recent legislative changes, such as those giving registered nurses who are appropriately educated and credentialed the right to prescribe, have broadened the scope of nursing practice.
"That change was made to support nurses to further enable care for whānau and has armed nurses with the ability to improve access to care.
"I didn't think I would be in nursing for my whole career, but 34 years later I can't imagine doing anything else.''
Hawke's Bay DHB portfolio manager Panu Te Whaiti, a 48-year-old mother of two boys, studied nursing later than many, at age 38.
After graduating, Te Whaiti worked at the Hastings branch of Totara Health, where she was promoted from practice nurse to clinical nurse team leader within two years.
Within another few years, she took on a portfolio manager role at the DHB's corporate office.
"My strengths in my new role are due to my clinical and community background, and having worked with Māori and Pasifika communities," Te Whaiti says.
Mike Connolly, clinical nurse specialist at the DHB's Consult Liaison Mental Health Services, also showcases the variety of options available to nurses.
After graduating in 1991 in England, Connolly moved to Fiji where he spent two years as a volunteer mental health nurse before moving to New Zealand.
In his DHB role, Connolly sees patients who have presented to hospital with other health conditions (ie, asthma, diabetes, etc), who are referred for a mental health assessment.
"The most rewarding part of my role is making a difference to people's lives and people's wellbeing," Connolly says.
Paunovic moved to Havelock North with her family from Croatia seven years ago.