Nurses are standing for their local district health board the length of the country, including five nurses vying for the seven places at the Bay of Plenty DHB table.
At least 22 nurses have put themselves forward amongst the 381 candidates for the 20 district health boards in the upcoming local body elections in October.
The nurse candidates include practicing nurses, a nurse practitioner, the president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, former nurses, and two retired midwives.
The Bay of Plenty DHB, which currently has three nurses on its board, including chair Sally Webb, has a bumper crop of nurse candidates for the seven elected spaces.
Current members Marion Guy, the president of NZNO, and primary health care nurse Yvonne Boyes are both seeking a fourth term.
Joining them in this year’s election is Sue Matthews, the clinical nurse leader for Kaitiaki Nursing services, who has served six years on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Also standing are Jan Polley, a tamariki ora nurse of Ngai Te Rangi and Ngati Maru descent, and Clare Wilson, who is currently a school nurse for Kaitiaki/Mount Maunganui College.
Other nurses seeking further terms on their local district health boards include former nurses Lee Mathias, the deputy chair of Auckland DHB, Ann Chapman, who chairs the audit committee of Mid Central DHB, and fellow MidCentral board member Karen Naylor, who is also an NZNO director and Palmerston North mayoress.
Northland DHB’s Pauline Allan-Downs, a founder of Nurses for a Smokefree Aotearoa and former NZNO director, is running for a third term. Also seeking a third term is Wairarapa DHB member and registered nurse Fiona Samuel.
Two new candidates – both mental health nurses and NZNO board directors – successfully sought endorsement from NZNO for their election campaigns.
Heather Symes is standing on a People’s Choice candidacy for the Canterbury District Health Board and said her core beliefs align to those of NZNO, which had a long history of advocating for improving the health status of all New Zealanders.
The other endorsed candidate, Grant Brookes, is standing on a Health First platform for the Capital and Coast District Health Board. Also contesting for a CCDHB place is longstanding practice nurse Allie Crombie.
In Hawke’s Bay, nurse practitioner Pip Rutherford is seeking a place on board alongside long-term conditions nurse specialist Helen Francis, who is seeking a third term on the board.
Nurse and Whanganui Regional PHO chief executive Judith MacDonald is seeking a second term on the Whanganui DHB and RN Angela Stratton is seeking to join her on the board.
In Taranaki, former Nursing Council board member Brenda Hall is seeking a place on the DHB, along with retired midwife and district nurse Mary Garlick.
Jo Agnew, RN and professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland’s nursing school, is seeking a place on the Auckland DHB, along with Aleksander Zivalijevic, who trained as a nurse.
