Commited NPO Nurse achieves RNPCH status

Congratulations Cheryl Johnson!

Recently achieving RNPCH status, Cheryl can now assess and prescribe some medications over and above the current Standing Order medications that some nurses can currently issue, under the NZ Medicines Regulations for Designated Registered Nurses.

Practice Nurse / Rural Health Nurse for Tokomaru Bay Health Centre, Cheryl is an asset to the community and it's health needs.

We were lucky enough to learn more about Cheryl's transition to the East Coast and her nursing journey recently.

Ko Cheryl tāku ingoa

Nō Kaiapoi āhau

Kei te Tokomaru āhau e noho ana

Where did your nursing journey begin?

My nursing journey began in 1989 at Mercy Hospital, Palmerston North, as a Caregiver. I did this to see if nursing was for me after working 6 years post high school at the Uniform Centre in Christchurch.

After less than a year, I decided nursing was for me, and applied for the Enrolled Nursing (EN) Course at the School of Nursing in Palmerston North. I was accepted, and funded myself through the 2 years. This included working nights and weekends back at Mercy Hospital, and with the DHB District Nursing Service where I found Community Nursing was for me. This was the last class of Enrolled Nurse training that was hospital based at the School of Nursing, and was not like the UCOL Polytech courses of today. I learnt more in wards caring for real people than from any textbook, including the values that all people are equal, have their own cultures, and deserve to be treated the same. I’ve taken that with me throughout my nursing.

I worked at Mercy Hospital for a further 5 years after qualifying as an EN, until the ward I worked in closed. It was a very sad time for the staff and patients, especially as they all had to be relocated to different rest homes and my colleagues separated off to other jobs. I remember lots of fun times too, including our secret code - banging 3 times on the metal bed pans in the sluice room which echoed when the matron was coming down the corridor to check in on the staff for the night. All the staff could hear it and knew the code.

So off I went to UCOl, to do the bridging course to become a Registered Nurse with a degree, which took another year and a half. We had a super class and heaps of fun.

After 11 years in Palmerston North, we moved to Tokomaru Bay – my partner James Forresters' home. We had visited many times before during the holidays, doing the long 7+ hour drive each way. On one Labour Weekend visit, I was made aware by then manager Caroline Thompson, that the Tokomaru Bay and Tikitiki Rural Health Nurse jobs' were going to be advertised. So here we were on holiday with no flash clothes, but off to an interview with my support crew who had hounded me for ages to come to Tokomaru - Elder Te Reo, Nanny Pat Maraki, James’s Mum – Bubby (Mahora Rikiriki) Forrester, and our Nanny Katie Tamepo who kept saying to me "I love you our Pākehā niece, but do you really want to come here. Us Maori don’t listen". She was a crack up but an inspiration. What an interview panel.  

So Tokomaru Bay was it, and I was the Rural Health Nurse in the community and Practice Nurse at the Clinic. Dr Nathan Joseph and Dr Mike Haymes were our Permanent GP's. Dr Paratene Ngata was the Lead GP at the time.

Tawhiti Clinic was to move from a GP and Ward Nurse set up to GP with Practice Nurse, and I intended to support this temporarily until this set up was up and running. 1 year max they told me – I was there for 7 years, and in the communities of Te Puia and Waipiro Bay. Certainly clocked up the miles with all that travel, but supported some wonderful whānau on the way.  

We were also blessed with our miracle - our son JJ (James Eria Jnr) in 2011. For 18 months before starting kōhanga at Te Ao Tawarirangi in Tokomaru Bay with Nanny Bobby Davis and Nanny Kohi Coleman, JJ was with me on some of my RHN Community days. I'd be off to visit our pakeke who lived alone or unwell, and they were more excited to see JJ than me. It was great seeing them light up.

Finally, a new Practice Nurse and RHN was employed for Te Puia/Waipiro Bay, and my manager at the time Georgina Paerata agreed that Tokomaru Bay, Te Puia and Waipiro, were far too large an area for only 1 RHN/PN, and so I was split off back to Tokomaru Bay, still as the sole RHN/PN. This was a huge area in itself, which included SH35 to Uawa, Te Puia, and inland Mata/Ihungia, etc with an increasing population – over 520 to date now.

Leaving Kaiapoi – Mum Pam, Dad Graham, big sister Kim, good friends and family, to begin my journey in Palmerston North, and eventually further north to Tokomaru Bay in 2021 to work for Ngāti Porou Hauora (now Ngāti Porou Oranga) was not easy. I travel home to Kaiapoi as much as I am able to, and have kept in touch with some great friends. All are so proud that I've completed the RNPCH Course.

How did you find the RNPCH course?

The Registered Nurse Community Health Prescribing Course journey was amazing. I was a bit reluctant at the beginning only because I could see the huge mahi that was involved in the course on top of family and work commitments, but I decided to quietly apply.

I could see it would allow us to assess and prescribe some medications ourselves for our clients, over and above the current Standing Order medications some nurses can issue currently, under the NZ Medicines Regulations for Designated Registered Nurses. It would also mean most importantly - quicker treatment for some of our clients and hopefully quicker recovery.

I hadn’t studied to this capacity since training as a nurse in 1989, but I was determined to get stuck in and get it done in less than the allowed 1 year timeframe. Sending all the documents/case studies off to be assessed 6 months after starting the course was daunting, but as Dr Elina said "our nurses do this every day - assess, diagnose and seek treatment, don’t overthink it."  We just needed to do the do, get through the assessor’s stage, and we would be on our way – and that's just how it was.

The highlight of completing the course was when my son JJ who's now 11 and attends Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Taonga Tuturu ki Tokomaru, said "ka mihi āhau ki a koe māmā"  which translates to 'I'm proud of you mum'. He’s my shining light and I'm so proud of him too.

Any acknowledgements you'd like to make?

I would like to acknowledge my other Coasty RN colleagues who are also doing the RNCHP course, and Dr Elina Pekansaari for her amazing support and guidance.

We'll all celebrate together when everyone is through…