Diabetes NP Dr Helen Snell and leading Pacifika mental health nurse Pepe Sinclair are the recipients of this year’s NZNO Services to Nursing and Midwifery Awards.
The pair were presented with their awards at the NZNO’s annual conference dinner this week.
Snell was the country’s first nurse practitioner in diabetes and was also the first NP to gain her PhD. She lead the project to develop the National Diabetes Nursing Knowledge and Skills Framework 2009, the diabetes nurse specialist prescribing pilot project for the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes (NZSSD), and was also project leader for developing NZSSD’s online e-learning diabetes resource for primary care nurses.
NZNO president Grant Brookes presented the awards and said Snell’s contribution to nursing knowledge in diabetes was “very significant” and she was a crucial lead for the Health Workforce New Zealand diabetes workforce review.
He said Pepe Sinclair had worked for many years as a mental health nurse and had been involved in national and international research on mental health, wellbeing and nursing workloads.
“She is lecturer and a passionate advocate for better health outcomes for Pacific people,” said Brookes. He said the award went to a nurse who was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother born in Rakahanga in the Cook Islands.
