RN Ivy Hodges (pic­tured right) can’t remem­ber a time when she didn’t want to be a nurse. 

“Giv­en that I come from big fam­i­lies, it was a foun­da­tion to want to look after one anoth­er,” she says, ​“So I decid­ed on a nurs­ing career.”

She also always want­ed her nurs­ing career to be in rur­al and remote areas. ​“When I was grow­ing up, I didn’t see many First Nation nurs­es. I want­ed to be that nurse, to be that role mod­el for oth­ers, for kids and peo­ple of all ages in the com­mu­ni­ty,” she says.

“I want­ed my work to be part of Clos­ing the Gap, to pro­vide health care to my own people.

“My father’s fam­i­ly are from the Tor­res Strait while my mother’s fam­i­ly are from Yarrabah, I was born and raised in Cairns. After study­ing at James Cook Uni­ver­si­ty in Cairns, it was only nat­ur­al for me to come to Thurs­day Island as a grad­u­ate student.”

What Ivy didn’t expect was this move into edu­ca­tion. After becom­ing a per­ma­nent Reg­is­tered Nurse at Thurs­day Island Hos­pi­tal, main­ly in the Gen­er­al ward and Emer­gency, Ivy was appoint­ed as the first clin­i­cal facil­i­ta­tor for the stu­dent nurs­es and grad­u­ate students.

“It’s won­der­ful to have this posi­tion cre­at­ed, giv­ing the stu­dent nurs­es and grad stu­dents some­one who can devote their time to them,” says Ivy. ​“We are now a full edu­ca­tion team, which also includes Kirstie Rush­more: Nurse Edu­ca­tor – Thurs­day Island Hos­pi­tal and the Pri­ma­ry Health Care Cen­tre, Gem­ma Bills: Nurse Edu­ca­tor – Out­er Islands and Bam­a­ga and Georgina Cald­well: Mid­wifery Edu­ca­tor for TI, Weipa and Cooktown.

“The oppor­tu­ni­ties that come from nurs­ing is an open door,” says Ivy. ​“You can go any­where with nurs­ing, but I know I will always want to have my work touch­ing First Nations peo­ples. I pay my respects not only to the health ser­vice but to many First Nation clin­i­cians like Uncle Sam and Aun­ty Yoko who have fought to have posi­tions like mine cre­at­ed.”

​“The edu­ca­tion area is a great path­way to gain expe­ri­ence and a way to be exposed to new ideas.”

“For exam­ple, I have learned more about myself in regards to accom­mo­dat­ing learn­ing process­es of oth­er peo­ple. With teach­ing, you must have patience and passion.

“What I like most is being able to help the grad­u­ate nurs­es, work­ing beside my col­leagues on the floor and pro­vid­ing a safe space for them to tran­si­tion from a stu­dent mind frame and estab­lish­ing the foun­da­tion of becom­ing a Reg­is­tered Nurse. I have gone through the grad­u­ate pro­gramme, so I can relate how
our grad­u­ate nurs­es feel and what they are experiencing.

“A mas­sive area to con­sid­er is not only clin­i­cal prac­tices but also cul­tur­al aware­ness and safe­ty, mak­ing sure we cul­tur­al­ly recog­nise each indi­vid­ual. Learn­ing about cul­ture and who we are as peo­ple, acknowl­edg­ing Australia’s true his­to­ry, and liv­ing with­in the com­mu­ni­ty to under­stand. At the end of the day, it’s all about respect­ing each oth­er and mak­ing changes to improve the health out­comes for First Nations people.

“The biggest achieve­ment is see­ing my grad­u­ates thrive, not only as nurs­es but with­in them­selves, being good peo­ple, so that one day they can return the favour to others.”