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A South Canterbury unsung hero is nurse Cecelia van Hassel-O’Brien, a mother of four and daughter of an ageing mother, who is proudest of being able to juggle all her roles with the demanding profession of nursing.

NAME: Cecelia van Hassel-O’Brien
DHB: South Canterbury
JOB: Practice nurse and businesswoman

A South Canterbury unsung hero is nurse Cecelia van Hassel-O’Brien, a mother of four and daughter of an ageing mother, who is proudest of being able to juggle all her roles with the demanding profession of nursing.

Cecelia van Hassel-O’Brien says she is grateful for the opportunities and transferable skills provided by nursing during her more than 30-year career.

She trained in Christchurch and has nursed in hospitals (public and private), primary and community, and private enterprise in the community. “I’m like an appliance,” she says. “You can plug me in anywhere and I should be able to work.”

Cecelia now splits her time between being a practice nurse and running a new ear health business.

“In primary care you have continuity and you get to know them and sort of get to go through their lives with them and it’s lovely to have those relationships with people. You are dealing with people and families and life and the whole person really which is what I love about primary care.”

When asked what her proudest achievement is, she says it is simply being able to juggle all the responsibilities in front of her, such as working in a challenging profession, continuing with ongoing nursing studies and parenting alone.

“It hasn’t been easy and it is hard work. As a mother – and all the other nurses will know this too – you are looking after your family, and I’m looking after an aging mother who is now in a rest home, and I’m on my own… You have to somehow find a balance. Because you have to be well and you have to be in the right place to help others, so you have to look after yourself.”

Cecelia has found that balance in movement; in particular, yoga. “Yoga keeps you strong mentally and physically – it’s a part of me and I have been doing it for a long time and I just love it and it keeps me healthy.”

Cecelia sees the true value of nursing to be in the skills nurses have with their patients. “There is a place for really good skills and being close to your patients and what you are doing. That is what’s real and perhaps the amount of letters you have behind your name is not so important. I think nurses have to keep sight of that really. There seems to be increasing pressure from places for nurses to be nurse practitioners. To be a really good nurse, you need to be able to think holistically, but at the same time you need to stay close to your work and your patients and their families.