Loving her job and continuing to learn are some of the secrets of success for South West Healthcare (SWH) employee and scholarship recipient Maggie How-Ely.
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The aged behaviour cognition nurse received the 2017 AEW Matthews Memorial Travelling Scholarship at the health service’s annual general meeting this month.
The scholarship, in memory of long-serving chief, the late Allan Matthews, allows a SWH employee to travel overseas to be exposed to international best practice models, programs and other initiatives.
Mrs How-Ely will attend the International Council of Nurses’ Nurse Practitioner /Advanced Care Practice Nursing Conference in The Netherlands in August.
She will also work alongside geriatric nurse practitioners at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland. “Edinburgh is one of the founding places for geriatrics and that concept of medicine,” she said. “They’re very forward thinking.”
Mrs How-Ely has a masters degree in mental health nursing and is currently completing a masters to become a nurse practitioner, which will enable her to prescribe medication and order diagnostic tests in her specialty area.
It was while teaching the enrolled nursing course at South West TAFE that she developed her passion for dementia and aged care, working at Lyndoch Living, before moving to SWH five years ago. I’ve got a background in education and I think it’s really important to educate others,” she said.
“That’s a really great part of my job. I’ve loved it. I enjoy it. I think that’s the other thing. You’ve got to do a job you enjoy. I say that to people. I love what I do. I’m really lucky.”
Mrs How-Ely thanked the SWH community, husband Darren and her adult children Sebastian, Clifford and Georgia for their support. “I’ve been overwhelmed. So many people have said ‘you really deserve it.”
