Sue Floyd, Practicum Manager and Acting Assistant Head at EIT | Te Pūkenga (left) with lecturer Libby O’Brien and second year students Kate Kimber and Zena Jarvis.
The School of Nursing at EIT | Te Pūkenga has found a new home in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The new nursing facility at 312 St Aubyn Street, Hastings, which is being leased from the Hastings Health Centre (HHC), came about after a longstanding relationship between the two organisations.
Dr Denise Blanchard, Head of School at EIT | Te Pūkenga and Practicum Manager and Acting Assistant Head, Sue Floyd say they are blown away by the support after the flooding caused significant damage to the Hawke’s Bay Campus in Taradale.
“Really early on after the cyclone hit, Jayne Bain, who is the Clinical Services Manager at the Hastings Health Centre, emailed me and said: ‘EIT has been severely damaged. What can we do to help?,” Sue says.
“We’re so grateful to Hastings Health Centre for reaching out, and everyone has worked so hard to make it happen.”
The house and a meeting room upstairs at the HHC allow them to continue in-person teaching and run practice suites so that their ākonga (students) can learn the vital assessment skills they need as registered nurses.
Acting Chief Executive Peter Beirne of HHC says the relationship with EIT I Te Pūkenga has been extremely successful.
“Jayne has had a longstanding relationship with Sue. We’ve always worked closely with them, and we think it’s really positive that the School of Nursing at EIT | Te Pūkenga can continue with teaching.”
For both Peter and Jayne, supporting the School of Nursing at EIT | Te Pūkenga is vital to ensure the continuation of the workforce in the region.
“It will ensure that there is a continuation of the nursing workforce coming through and not just for us. We were quite concerned that if we lost this cohort for six months, it would set the industry back and mean that primary and secondary health would suffer with the lack of nurses,” Peter says.
Dr Denise Blanchard, Head of School at EIT | Te Pūkenga (left) and Practicum Manager and Acting Assistant Head, Sue Floyd with Hastings Health Centre Clinical Services Manager Jayne Bain, Operations Manager – Urgent Care Jayne Garvey and Acting Chief Executive Peter Beirne.
Sue says they salvaged some equipment from the nursing simulation suite at the Hawke’s Bay Campus in Taradale.
“Our staff have been amazing at setting everything up and doing all the work to get the facility ready.
The house has been set up with two rooms that have hospital beds and a room that has been assigned as a primary health venue.
To accommodate the venue change, the School of Nursing has changed its programme slightly and started block teaching and online teaching to support the maximum use of this new facility.
Jayne says EIT I Te Pūkenga is a fantastic resource.
“It allows us to work alongside the training schedule and say: ‘This is what we need for primary care’ before they hit the ground running with us. We’re also happy to provide that backup and support to get that done for them.”
Sue Floyd, Practicum Manager and Acting Assistant Head at EIT | Te Pūkenga (right) with second year students Jane McVeigh and Georgia Mayo.
Denise says the School of Nursing looks forward to an ongoing relationship and collaboration opportunities with the staff at HHC.
“We sincerely thank them for their support and kindness shown to staff in the School of Nursing during what has been one of the most challenging times for the School.”