In three short years at Uniting AgeWell Queenborough Rise, Nabina Prajapati has gone from a “nervous” new nursing graduate to an extremely confident RN whose career progressing steadily.
“I’m proud of where I am today,” says Nabina, “and I’m grateful to Uniting AgeWell for helping me grow into the role every step of the way.”
Nabina has learned first-hand that when opportunity knocks, you embrace it. Especially when you’ve recently migrated and are trying to establish yourself in your new homeland.
She did her Bachelor of Food Technology and worked as a food technologist in Nepal, where she was raised, before moving to Australia with her husband in 2014 to study her Masters in Food Safety at the University of Tasmania.
But jobs in this area were scarce on the ground, so Nabina moved to Brisbane and studied a Bachelor of Nursing instead, finding there were a lot of similarities in the science-based courses, with the added bonus that nursing gave her the opportunity to fulfil her need to care for people. The pull back to beautiful Tasmania was strong and she did her nursing placement at a Hobart aged care facility before taking up her current role.
And Nabina has flourished! “Uniting AgeWell supports me to be the best version of myself,” she explains. “There are so many courses and training modules to do that I am constantly learning and being able to apply this new knowledge to my role.”
She laughs when she looks back on her personal growth over the last three years. “I’m a totally different person now, I’m very confident in my abilities and I keep on being afforded new levels of responsibilities which encourages me to progress further. I also absolutely love spending time with older people and providing holistic care to them.”
Nabina is also looking forward to the annual Nurse Development Program with a series of workshops set to start in May. “The landscape of nursing in aged care is rapidly changing,” says Nabina. “It’s good that we have professional development to keep up to date.”
The regular hours in aged care are also a plus factor. Nabina has a baby girl, and wants to balance a career with being actively involved in her childhood. She also enjoys the culture of Uniting AgeWell which has inclusion as one of its five values underpinning everything that the not-for-profit organisation does. “They don’t just welcome all – they champion all!” she says.
May 12 is International Nurses Day and time to celebrate people, like Nabina, who are making a difference to the lives of older people each and every day.
Learn more about nursing careers at Uniting AgeWell