Nurse brings rural health skills to Nundle

14 October 2010

The Nundle community has welcomed its new Transitional Nurse Practitioner Alanna Watson.

Alanna began in her role in August and since then has enjoyed meeting residents and getting to know the health needs of the community.
Alanna has extensive experience in rural practice. She has come to Nundle from Canarvon where she practiced remote nursing. Alanna also has experience running remote nursing posts at Cue and Mt Augustus in remote Western Australia.

Alanna said she has enjoyed settling into the local community.

“Nundle is a lovely place,” Alanna said. “It’s obvious that it’s a community that cares about its health.”

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has extensive experience and who has completed education that allows them to provide extended healthcare to the community. Nurse practitioners have higher qualifications then registered nurses that allow them to refer patients to other healthcare professionals, prescribe some medications and order diagnostic tests such as pathology and X-rays.

As a Transitional Nurse Practitioner, Alanna is in the final stages of education to become a qualified Nurse Practitioner. She will work in collaboration with local GPs to provide a high level of primary healthcare to residents in the Nundle area.

Nundle Local Health Advisory Committee (LHAC) Chairman Charles May welcomed Alanna to her new role on behalf of the community.

“We have already met with Alanna to speak about the community’s health needs and we are very pleased that she has extensive experience caring for rural and remote communities,” Mr May said.

“She will be a good fit for Nundle because she shares the LHAC’s ideas about how the health service should be proactively run to suit the needs of the community.
 “We welcome Alanna to her new role and look forward to working closely with her.”
Alanna is available by calling Nundle Community Health Centre on 6755 8001.

Contact: Emma Gibbs

Phone: (02) 6767 7137 or 0428 114 767