Jerico Esquerra and wife Clarise, together with Pauz Diaz and wife Claire, are truly international nurses, having trained and worked in the Philippines as well as the Middle East, before the four of them started at Southland Hospital in July 2023.
The annual International Nurses Day is celebrated tomorrow to mark the birthday of Florence Nightingale, often regarded as the founder of modern nursing.
They all came together, because twin sisters Clarise and Claire jokingly say they do not want to be separated from one another.
At the hospital, the registered nurses all work on the medical ward, apart from Mr Pauz, who is a registered nurse in the critical care unit.
Sharing a nursing career connects them all as they understand the challenges, successes and sometimes harder days that nurses face.
As nurses worldwide come together on International Nurses Day, the new "Southlanders" say nursing defines what professionalism means.
"During a time of crisis, nurses always show up and continue to look after their patients," Mr Esquerra says.
"It’s not an easy job to be a nurse but we always make sure that we wear our uniform with pride and full of compassion to cater to our patients’ needs during some of the hardest times of their life," Mr Pauz says.
Health NZ Southern, which covers Southland, Otago and the Lakes District, employs about 2400 nurses.
