I can’t believe we only have 8 days left. Time flies when you’re having fun. Our day began at 7am with Sam Keeney (Nursing ‘20) and Jenna Albanese (Nursing ‘20) talking with Mrs. Shuta’s and Mrs. Cifuni’s 2nd grade class at Balmville Elementary School (Newburgh Enlarged City School District) about our travels and experiences in New Zealand. The students loved talking with Sam and Jenna about the animals that we’ve seen and some general questions about New Zealand, such as, “What side of the road do you drive on?”!
We left Westport en route to Greymouth and made a quick stop to see "pancake rocks” in Punakaiki. Pretty cool. They actually looked like pancakes stacked on top of one another.
We left Westport en route to Greymouth and made a quick stop to see "pancake rocks” in Punakaiki. Pretty cool. They actually looked like pancakes stacked on top of one another.
We next made a visit to Grey Base Hospital (in Greymouth) to get a sense of what health care is like in New Zealand. We sat down with Karyn Bousfield (Director of Nursing) and Brittany Jenkins (Associate Director of Nursing) at Grey Base Hospital for about 2 hours. We talked about things ranging from the duration of an average nurse’s shift to the origin of the health care alliance between the five regional districts on the South Island. It was a cool experience learning from individuals in the same field as I am but who live on the other side of the globe. Karyn and Brittany briefly took us through the process of becoming an RN and what their responsibilities may consist of. They told us that if we (Americans) came to New Zealand as a licensed registered nurse (RN), we could not practice in NZ; we would need "additional training", as they put it. Turns out these Kiwi don’t mess around when it comes to health care practioner preparation. I could go on for a while telling you about the distribution of cash and why someone might want to have private vs public health care in NZ but I won’t. I’ll keep it light and tell you that if you are ever in New Zealand and get hurt, you are in good hands.
After thanking Karyn and Brittany for their time, we jumped into the van for a 2 hour ride to Franz Josef through torrential rains. Nice hostel and a cool town. I found a cool souvenir shop and a delicious Indian restaurant. After dinner we called it for the night to get ready for whatever tomorrow brings.
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