This is the first year of the Southern Cross Nursing Scholarship Programme which was launched in August last year, between SIT School of Nursing (SoN) and Southern Cross Health Trust, to provide “unparalleled support” to SIT Nursing students during their studies and clinical placements.
Southern Cross Health Trust representatives, Julie Adam and Vanessa Shanks spent Wednesday last week at SIT, where they presented each Year 1 nursing student a Southern Cross kit, containing a fob watch, notepad, pens, a bag, sweets, and a free, funded flu vaccination, as well as $300 each towards their uniform and shoes.
Bachelor of Nursing student Ndaba Mvelase was one of the 108 Year 1 students who received a Southern Cross kit. “It came wrapped in an awesome box, I felt very privileged that we were the first group to receive them. It’s never been done before,” he says and was especially pleased with the voucher for uniform and shoes. He took advantage of the shoe fitting offered on the day with Ben from the Shoe Clinic Invercargill, who set up in the clinical suite of the nursing department, and offered students two shoe choices to provide different price options.
“These are not cheap shoes; they’re about $250 a pair,” Mr Mvelase admits, and when he found out the cost of the footwear “I was going to make do with what I had… A new pair of shoes can go a long way.”
The students also had a shared lunch put on for them by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, adding to the celebratory mood. “When the Year 2 and Year 3 students came and saw what we’d been given, they were blown away as well. It made us feel wanted and very valued. It was also motivating and much appreciated,” Mr Mvelase added.
SIT Academic Lead (Head) of Nursing, Karyn Madden, says it has been a busy start to the year in all SIT’s Nursing programmes; for the first time there has been an increase in student numbers right across all years. The simulation and clinical suites were also receiving an upgrade, which would be completed by May.