NORMA WEST OBE RN, RM, Cert Mat & Child Welfare, Grad Dip Management (CQU), FRCNA, Companion CQUniversity Australia.

Norma West has made a major contribution to the development and advancement of the nursing profession during a long and distinguished career as a senior nursing administrator and practitioner in regional Queensland.

Born in Proserpine, Norma served almost 50 years in the nursing profession after commencing nurse training in Bundaberg in 1951 and retiring in the senior position of Director of Nursing at the Rockhampton Base Hospital in 2001.

Passionate (in her words - "to the point of obsession") about patient care and the importance of the role of the nurse in the decision making and practice of care given, and because of this, the importance of the education of the nurse giving the care, Norma's influence was far-reaching throughout Central Queensland.

After gaining extensive nursing qualifications including a General Certificate of Nursing during four years at the Bundaberg General Hospital where she was influenced by a strong and inspiring Matron, and then Midwifery and Maternal and Child Welfare Certificates in Brisbane, Norma was appointed Matron of the Monto Hospital in 1959, the youngest nurse ever to hold the position of Matron of a hospital in Queensland.  After two years in that position, Norma then went on to spend six years as Matron of the Longreach Hospital including taking a year's leave of absence to obtain a Diploma of Nursing Administration through the College of Nursing Australia in Brisbane.

It was principally in those outback settings where Norma developed a level of multi‐skilling seldom seen in the nursing profession today which included dispensing drugs, administering anaesthetics, suturing wounds and operating x‐ray equipment, as well as undertaking more conventional nursing roles. Norma was also involved in important medical outreach programs including regularly flying to remote Queensland communities including Cloncurry, Camooweal and Mount Isa to conduct baby and other patient clinics, earning the gratitude of many living in those areas.

Norma's ‘hands on' country experience and extensive suite of skills made her well qualified to take on the senior role of head of nursing at the Rockhampton Base Hospital in 1971, a position she held for thirty years, becoming the longest serving person in that capacity in the history of the hospital.  Her position titles during that time included Matron, Nursing Superintendent and Director of Nursing of the hospital.

Norma's influence in these positions was profound and many changes and improvements to the facilities and standards at the Rockhampton Base Hospital were achieved during her tenure.

For instance, soon after she took up her role as the hospital's Matron, Norma lobbied strongly and successfully for the inclusion of an intensive care and coronary care wards and a renal unit to be included in the construction of new hospital extensions when original plans did not include those facilities. Norma also played a significant part in the provision of oncology services in Central Queensland as a founding member and president of the Rockhampton Oncology Committee.  Another of Norma's major achievements was her focus on nurse training and, in Central Queensland, she was one of the major drivers behind the move to upgrade training from ‘in hospital' to tertiary level.

Norma enthusiastically embraced the National Goals in Nursing Education project which resulted in degree level courses for nurse training being offered at CQUniversity and she actively assisted and helped facilitate the migration of nurse training to the university. In fact such was her level of support for CQUniversity's fledgling nurse training program that she was invited to jointly turn the first sod for the construction of the university's school of nursing building with the then Head of School Dr Amy Zelmer.

Training of existing and retired nurses was another important priority for Norma through the introduction of regular in-service and refresher training programs including a highly successful lecture series conducted under the auspices of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation.

Her support of the nursing profession also extended to an involvement at an executive level in organisations including the Matrons Association of Queensland and the Queensland Nurses Union, where she was one of the union's longest serving members, and as a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing Australia.

Norma also acquired significant board level experience including stints on the Monto, Longreach and Rockhampton Hospital Boards and as a member of CQUniversity's governing council from 1984 to 1989 where she played an active part in many important decisions affecting the university and its future. Her active commitment to lifelong learning also prompted her to successfully undertake a graduate diploma in management from CQUniversity in 1991.

Norma's ongoing service to the nursing profession was publicly recognised in 1983 when she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her ‘outstanding contribution to nursing in Queensland'.

Although retired in recent years, Norma has continued a prominent and active role in community life including serving as President of the University of the Third Age, as a long time member of Rockhampton's Zonta Club, as an Executive member of the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society, and as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and St Luke's Anglican Church. Her major passion however remains the nursing profession and she has devoted much of her recent time and energies to the work of the Australian Country Hospital Heritage Association of which she is the recently elected President.

Norma and her fellow volunteers have already achieved much towards the establishment of a permanent medical museum in Rockhampton with the refurbishment and relocation of the historic Mount Morgan Nurses Quarters to the Rockhampton Heritage Village and are currently engaged in the massive task of organising archival records and setting up displays prior to its official opening.

Asked for highlights of her life, Norma has many:  Lunch with Queen Elizabeth & Prince Phillip in Longreach in 1970; graduating from her 5 different areas of study; receiving her OBE in 1983; being involved in the transfer of nurse education to CQUniversity and TAFE, being honoured as a ‘Companion of CQUniversity' in February this year, and many others.  Typically, top of her list is "Graduation ceremonies over the many years I have been in charge of Nursing Services.  The success of the student nurses was also my success".

Believing that decision-making regarding healthcare for the future should be returned to the clinicians who actually work with patients, she says she learnt you can only try to influence the direction so that it is in the best interests of those in need of care, whoever and whatever and at whatever level, and not allow the focus to go from the ‘patient'.  "Facilities" she says "are important, but priority should always be with people".

Norma West has certainly ticked all the Living Treasure boxes with her record of achievement, her ability to inspire and influence, her demonstrated capacity for positive change  in relation to nursing in Central Queensland and her ability to share, empower and lead others.