Experience as a DHB member.Tena koutou katoa. I hail from the Te Tai Tokerau/ Northland region and recently began my own business in Whangarei providing clinical supervision and professional development for nurses. I previously worked in smoking cessation smoking cessation Public health Temporary or permanent halting of habitual cigarette smoking; withdrawal therapies–eg, hypnosis, psychotherapy, group counseling, exposing smokers to Pts with terminal lung CA and nicotine chewing gum are often ineffective. and was a founding member of Nurses Against Tobacco, now called Nurses for a Smokefree Aotearoa New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. (see news p6). I am a mother, a wife and grandmother to 11 mokopuna. I am also a past NZNO NZNO New Zealand Nurses Organisation board of directors' representative, past chair of the Te Tai Tokerau region, past Te Runanga representative and I ran for the NZNO presidency in 2005. Three years ago, the Northland north·land also North·land n. A region in the north of a country or an area. north  land regional council twisted my arm to
represent it as a nurse on the Northland District Health Board (DHB DHB District Health Board (New Zealand)DHB Deutscher Handball Bund (German) DHB Deutschen Hausfrauen-Bundes (Darmstadt) DHB DHB Capital Group, Inc. ). It sounded a daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin task. However, that has never stopped me in the past, so I gave it a go. What followed were many miles of walking, radio interviews, and erecting signs with my husband and campaign manager Bill. To our astonishment I was the second highest polling candidate in Northland. Being a board member has been a fantastic journey. Our board comprises four women, two of whom are nurses; seven men (two are doctors); one accountant; and six business people. I would say it takes at least 12 months to get your head around the mechanics of how a board works and you are always learning. The board has handled contracts and budgets worth millions of dollars. Over the Last three years, I have seen many developments including a new dialysis unit established in Whangarei Hospital and a satellite unit in KawaKawa Hospital; a new breast screening clinic set up in conjunction with Waitemata DHB; the redevelopment of the Kaitaia Hospital; the accredited accredited recognition by an appropriate authority that the performance of a particular institution has satisfied a prestated set of criteria. accredited herds cattle herds which have achieved a low level of reactors to, e.g. baby friendly hospital initiative introduced, and five nurses employed in advanced nurse practitioner roles. Northland's population is around 147,000. Cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes are the three chronic diseases prevalent in our area. Our DHB has four hospitals--Whangarei, Kaitaia, Bay of Islands (at KawaKawa) and Dargaville and six primary health organisations. Being a DHB director is enjoyable. Better Health Northland is my slogan. I hope all voters will support nurses who are standing for election next month. No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa. Pauline Allan-Downs, RN, BN, Whangarei |
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