Shorty Street factor just what the nurse ordered
‘Nursing’s helped me as a human being’
Doug Horn was going to be an engineer but nursing found him. More than 40 years later he is still loving the profession and keen for more men to master sphygmomanometers and catheters.
Doug works as a district nurse in Foxton and the care he provides clients was recently acknowledged by MidCentral District Health Board.
Doug, who now lives in Palmerston North, started his nursing career in the 1970s as a nurse aide at the 680-bed Kimberley Hospital.
He was between jobs after working as a dairy farm labourer. He’d applied for a mechanical engineering apprenticeship in November but was told to come back in three months.
The England-born man needed a job in the meantime and went to Kimberley as it was the biggest employer in Levin where his family lived.
It was at Kimberley he met a man who had a profound impact on him and helped change his career direction.
The resident was born on the same day as Doug but was no more than 1.2m tall, was bedbound, pigeon chested and had poor muscle development.
“He became that way because he shut his fingers in a car door at the age of 2.”
While he was undergoing surgery to repair his fractured fingers, the man suffered malignant hyperthermia, a severe reaction to certain drugs used for anaesthesia. He went into respiratory arrest and his brain was damaged.
“There but for the grace of God go I.” Doug says. “So that had quite an impact on me because nursing is about empathy, compassion and integrity.”
He decided to pursue a nursing career and realised he would need more than the technical drawing he had done well in at school, so he studied biology by correspondence and English at night school.
Doug qualified as a registered psychopaedic nurse in 1979. In 1981, he transferred to Palmerston North Hospital and trained to be a registered and general obstetrics nurse.
He’s also worked in palliative care and wound care.
“Nursing’s helped me as a human being, it’s knocked the sharp edges off me. Age does that as well, of course.”
When Doug was 7 and living in England he broke both bones in his wrist. This was his first experience with a hospital.
Even though he was anxious, scared and “dying for a pee” but too embarrassed to use the bottle, he remembers the medical staff as compassionate, lovely and understanding — even when he wet the bed.
His mother and an aunt worked in the medical profession and he says subconsciously their career choice left an impression.
“Nursing found me.”
Doug says he has witnessed exemplary nursing throughout his career and he has learned much from his colleagues. They hold to the highest standards of nursing care and knowledge.
“I’m the nurse I am because of the people I’ve worked with.”
Doug was ready for the inevitable question about being a male nurse; he is one of only two male district nurses at MidCentral DHB.
“I’m a nurse first and sometimes I have to educate my clients that I’m a nurse because they still associate male healthcare workers or carers as doctors,” he says. “I’m a nurse first and I’m a bloke second when I’m nursing. It’s about the patients, it’s about the people I serve.”
He says any challenges associated with being a male nurse have reduced.
“I credit Shortland Street for that because people in this country are much more accepting of male nurses
now because of Shortland Street.”
Doug says three pieces of writing underline his nursing: Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata, If, by Rudyard Kipling and John Donne’s No Man Is an Island.
“I think it’s a marvellous career for men, I know men can be as sensitive, kind and compassionate.”
Doug says it doesn’t matter where you work in the health sector, you are always part of a team.
One of the things Doug loves about district nursing is the power balance between medical professional and patient is much more equal.
“I’m a visitor in their home, they have the power, the relationship is easier to initiate and develop.”
Doug recently received a DAISY Award. He was nominated by a Foxton client who he’s been helping for a couple of years. The client wrote Doug “has gone above and beyond with my cares”.
“He is always a happy, cheerful man who listens when I have a problem with my condition and will help whenever he can,” the nominator said.
The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Award is an international recognition programme that honours and celebrates the skilful, compassionate care nurses and midwives provide every day.