A life time of service
to nursing celebrated
By Shelley McIntosh,CH4K Clinical Nurse
Coordinator and Gateway Coordinator.
The Community Health 4 Kids team in the
Eastern Bay recently hosted a farewell function
for their esteemed colleague, Public Health
Nurse, Heather Yamamoto who has retired
after more than 50 years of nursing.
‘High Tea’ was the theme of Heather’s farewell and the team baked
an array of treats and decorated the room accordingly. A photo
board was on display, showing Heather’s various nursing roles over
the years as well as a few personal pics from her childhood.
Past and present colleagues as well as people from local schools
and community agencies came to honour and celebrate Heather’s
years of service. Many heart-warming speeches were shared;
poems read, and songs sung. Laughter could be heard from afar
as people shared hilarious anecdotes and stories of their time
working with Heather. Heather, in true form, also had everyone in
the room laughing as she spoke about her nursing memories.
When Heather came into the world in 1949, her father had
recently returned from the war. She was one of five children in the
family. Heather recalls her father suffering from recurrent malaria
symptoms and describes these times as her first taste of putting
her hand to nursing. She completed her schooling in Hawkes Bay
and, at the age of 18 left home to train as a nurse – at the wish of
her parents, despite her own desire to become a travelling sales
person for her father’s chainsaw company. Heather had almost
completed her training when she decided it was no longer for
her. She moved to Wellington and for a short time worked as an
accounts clerk and also in hotel kitchens.
Eight years later, having married and had two sons, Heather was
working as a nurse aide when her colleagues convinced her to
resume her nurse training. She did this through Waikato Health Board
in Rotorua - completing her training and graduating as a registered
general obstetric nurse in 1980. From then on, her taste for study was
awakened and over the next twenty years Heather completed nursing
and social science degrees along with post graduate studies in health
economics and human resource management.
Heather spent her first few years as a Registered Nurse at
Rotorua Hospital -
working in Intensive
and Coronary care.
In 1986 she moved
into the area of
Public Health Nursing
and in her role for
the Department of
Health she covered
Edgecumbe, Kawerau
and Matata - about the
time of the Edgecumbe
earthquake. She has a
community and family
health focus. Career
highlights outlined in
her CV were helping to initiate cervical screening in the area and
contributing to the set up of both health centres in Matata and
Edgecumbe.
From 1989 to 1993 Heather worked for the Health Board, initially
to roll out the cervical screening programme across the Bay of
Plenty, reviewing of women’s health initiatives and later in Te Puke
to transition many services from the Health Board to the newly
formed Regional Health Authority and independent contractors.
Much change was afoot at this time in healthcare, leading Heather
to setting up and running her own nurse consultancy business for
eight years - specialising in aged care, medical care, rehabilitation
and women’s health. She provided policy advice, strategic
planning and project development in the public and private sector.
Heather was ready for a change when she spotted an advert in a
nursing magazine wanting nurses in Saudi Arabia. It wasn’t long
before she was working there and running an acute women’s
medical ward. She spent a further eight years in Saudi and for much
of that time was involved in cancer management and palliative care
at a policy and planning level. She returned to NZ in 2010 and after
a short stint in aged care she joined the Community Health 4 Kids
team as a Public Health Nurse for this final stretch of her career.
Heather has had a fantastically wide and varied career with so
much time put into improving the lives of others. She has been
a much-loved member of the Community Health 4 Kids team in
Whakatāne. Go well Heather, we wish you all the best in your well-
earned retirement.
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