Colleen Moore (71) has chosen to retire but has done much in her time, from managing the logistics of moving the contents of the old Oamaru hospital site to the new grounds in Severn St in one day, to overseeing new developments in local health.
Mrs Moore grew up in Akaroa and had her heart set on working as a nurse from a young age.
''My mother said I wanted to be a nurse when I was 4. I always had a passion for helping people.''
In 1963, her dream became a reality when she began training at Timaru Hospital.
''I loved it. It was very structured. In fact I think we gave greater nursing care in those days. I had to work six days a week; one day studying, five days working. Trained in the days of black shoes, stockings, pinnies and caps. You wouldn't challenge anybody. The matron was god. The doctors were god.''
She left nursing to have her family of four sons.
The family moved to Invercargill, where she worked as a nurse, and then to Oamaru, where she became a district nurse and later the head of district nursing, so beginning her management career.
Changes in nursing during her time included greater autonomy for nurses and the increase in complexity of tasks they were required to do.
However, there were downsides such as an increase in paperwork with no added funding to cover the workload, and the small number of medical staff posted in the Oamaru Hospital emergency department on a Friday or Saturday.
Sometimes there was only one doctor, one nurse, and one orderly to handle a situation where someone ''goes off''.
Although police were nearby and supportive, the onus for the situation was on the Southern District Health Board and what it was willing to fund, she said.
Another issue she wished to see addressed was the approach people took to their own health, citing how frustrating it was to watch someone with a chronic lung condition still opt to smoke.
In part, Mrs Moore was standing down from her position because she felt she could no longer do the job justice but also because she wanted to spend time with her family.
Her immediate plan was to spend more time with her seven grandchildren and on hobbies she had neglected.
