A Dunedin emergency department nurse in Christchurch when the February earthquake struck did not hesitate to help, even though she had her 74-year-old grandmother in tow.
Amy Rata, a nurse at the Dunedin department for about five years, told of her earthquake experience at a celebration of International Nurses' Day attended by about 80 people at Dunedin Hospital yesterday.
Ms Rata said at the time the quake struck she was in Cashel St Mall with her grandmother.
During the quake, she sat with her grandmother, but once it ended they moved out to Colombo St to a " war zone".
Ms Rata said she remembered saying to her grandmother "You stay here. We are OK, I must help".
She then began trying to dig people out of the rubble.
Soon the pair were on the back of a truck travelling to the Christchurch Hospital ED with people who needed treatment.
She praised the organisation at the ED, which saw everyone put into teams and ensured staff kept calm.
Ms Rata offered her services putting in catheters and said she had "never been under so much pressure to get a catheter in in my life".
In the midst of this she kept "running out to check on my grandmother".
Nurses turned up from "all over the place" to offer help, including some on holiday from Australia, she said.
Some nurses did not know where their families were or if their children were all right.
Dunedin Hospital emergency department charge nurse Justin Moore and psychiatric district nurse Cathy Tod also shared their experiences of volunteering to help in the weeks following the earthquake.
Southern District Health Board nurses have recorded messages of support for their Christchurch counterparts in a keepsake book which will later be forwarded to Canterbury District Health Board. Four Otago Health Care Trust scholarships were awarded to Robin Harris, a registered nurse and nurse educator; Joanne Robertson, a neonatal intensive care nurse, Paul Medeiros, clinical nurse educator in cardiology respiratory services and Kerry Cross, an acute mental health nurse. A Rotary scholarship was also awarded to Gillian Shaw, a registered nurse working with a psychiatric outpatient group.
