New Victory nurse relishing her role
Victory Community Centre’s new nurse says she loves the challenge of being innovative to meet the health needs of the community.
Rachel Thomas has been in the job for the two months and said it had been ‘‘quite overwhelming’’ to step into the role after Penny Molnar’s departure.
The two comments she heard the most were, ‘‘you’re the new Penny’’ and ‘‘you have big shoes to fill’’.
But Molnar herself said during her retirement she felt Thomas was the right person for the job.
‘‘The way she handed over the role was part of how accepted I was in the community,’’ she said.
The pair kept in touch and Thomas said Molnar would continue to be a mentor for her.
Her day to day job was ‘‘big and varied’’ and involved doing a lot of work behind the scenes
‘‘There is no job description, you do what needs to be done to meet the needs of whoever walks in the door.
‘‘I never know from one day to the next what is going to happen.’’
She said there were pockets of deprivation in Nelson where people with high needs often fell through the cracks.
Health equity was a problem and safe, warm housing was a real issue for many people.
She hoped to bring some of her clinical skills to the role and grow the services offered at the community centre. With additional funding her goal was to provide cervical screening, sexual health and family planning services.
The role was made possible due to a contract with Nelson Bays Primary Health that funded the community nurse position for low-access services.
‘‘But if we are going to extend the services, we need more funding. Although I am just determined to do it, at the end of the day.’’
The job meant she was constantly thinking about how she could be innovative to meet the community’s health needs.
It was something that was often on her mind. Thomas noticed carpet offcuts in a skip when driving past Carpet Court with her family and approached the company to see if they would be willing to donate them.
‘‘I explained how there were a number of houses in the community that don’t always have carpet so I kind of painted the picture of the child stepping out of bed onto a carpet-less, cold floor.’’
Carpet Court Nelson manager Dean Folly said the connection allowed them to recycle carpet instead of sending it to landfill and it was something they hoped to do on an ongoing basis.
He said the donations were possible when carpet was uplifted from a house as part of an insurance claim and in most cases it was assessed to ensure it was in good condition.
A post of the Koha Shed Facebook page about the carpet received more than 50 requests in a couple of hours.
Thomas said they were able to help 12 families and in most cases, it was used in kids’ bedrooms.