Volunteer goes from shuttle buggies to F1
Kathy Cuthbert will swap overseeing the sedate shuttle buggies at Nelson Hospital for watching some of the fastest machines in the world.
The hard-working volunteer, who has overseen the buggy service that ferries patients around the hospital carpark, has been selected for a trip to the Singapore Grand Prix in September.
Nelson Marlborough Health won a competition for advertisers in the new Nelson Mail compact edition. But as a government organisation, the person who placed the ad was unable to claim the prize, so the decision was made to gift it to a volunteer.
When Cuthbert got a call from Nelson Marlborough Health chief executive Peter Bramley, she thought something was amiss.
‘‘He said, ‘Nothing is wrong, I am ringing with good news’,’’ she said. ‘‘I couldn’t believe it.’’
Before her retirement, Cuthbert worked in a number of roles at Nelson Hospital for 38 years. Despite her fulltime job, she also took on voluntary work during her lunch hour and in the evenings.
It was her idea to start a shuttle buggy service at the hospital in 2006, after noticing people at the main entrance who were breathless after walking up from the carpark.
‘‘It’s something I am really proud of,’’ she said. Since January, it has helped 2500 people get around Nelson Hospital.
Even though she retired nearly three years ago and cares fulltime for her 98-yearold mother, Cuthbert devotes around 20 hours a week to her volunteer roles.
The prize is a trip for two, and she had a tough decision choosing who would accompany her. She chose to take her sister-in-law, who lives in Wairoa.
Cuthbert has done her research on the event and knows to keep an eye out for Kiwi driver Brendon Hartley.
As well as watching the Formula One, she hopes to head to Singapore’s National Orchid Gardens.