Nurse's sterling work rewarded

Barbara Hammond. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

A Wanganui nurse who has spent her career fighting for workplace rights and increased safety for nurses was honoured recently by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).

Barbara Hammond, 57, received an award earlier this month for recognition of the contribution made to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation. "I was stunned," Mrs Hammond said. "What else are you going to say? I heard them reading the citations and I thought, 'I've done some of those things ... oh! Oh, it's me!'

"It's nice to be recognised for supporting the nurses who always supported me."

Born in Canada, Mrs Hammond became a nurse when she was 22, and moved to Wanganui and married in 1983. She started working at Jubilee Hospital in the 1990s as an enrolled nurse, where she worked hard for a collective employment agreement and workplace rights. She was involved in organising a bridging programme with UCOL so enrolled nurses could become registered nurses, and still have time to work and care for their families.

"We're all senior, we've all got kids and families, we can't go back to school full time," she said.

The programme allowed nurses to study two days a week in their first year. Mrs Hammond put emphasis on the safety of nurses. "When you work for any employer the nurses have to be safe. The last person who touches the patient, if there's an incident, is the person who's responsible."

They combated dangers to nurses in relation to this with more appropriate staffing levels. "When I first came, I refused to give medication until I was totally trained to do it," she said.

Mrs Hammond is also passionate about making sure nurses weren't overworked. "You're not going to work 12 days in a row. We make sure you get nine hours break between your shifts. We're a 24-hour workforce. It's shift work. We're making decisions at 3 O'clock in the morning when we'd rather be in bed. You have to be supported in that shift work, we're slowly getting there."

People were afraid to come forward when they were being wronged, she said.

Now working as a paediatric and neo-natal nurse with the Whanganui District Health Board, Mrs Hammond said she liked working "hand-in-hand" with other medical professionals. "We are working on an even level and acknowledging everybody's strengths. Our doctors are fantastic, they'll discuss anything with anybody at any level, to the point where we understand and we appreciate the conversation."

Mrs Hammond said it was important nurses were supported in education, and they were constantly upgrading. "We have to know what we're doing."

Her work isn't finished yet. Mrs Hammond said she is involved with a number of groups around the hospital and they will be negotiating for increased wages next month.

The mother-of-three received her award for services to nursing at a ceremony in Wellington on September 17.

NZNO president Marion Guy said Mrs Hammond has a "passion for students".

"She commits her own time to advocating for nursing, promoting NZNO and speaking with students. I am privileged to be able to take this opportunity to thank Barbara for her sterling work over the years."