Seana Clarke was always going to return to rural nursing.
When the position of nurse unit manager at Dysart Hospital came up eighteen months ago, the time was right to go west to where her career in health began.
Seana was born in Rockhampton but grew up in a little town that no longer exists – Blair Athol near Clermont.
“I’d always wanted to be a nurse,” Seana said.
“I was always someone who was ‘saving’ things.
“Growing up on the farm I always had a joey kangaroo hanging in the bag behind the wood stove, and I had goats, horses and poddy calves.”
Seana’s first job out of school in 1979 was as an enrolled nurse at Clermont.
She then headed to Mackay to do general nursing and midwifery.
In 1988 she returned to Clermont.
“I operated as the midwife, and then I went into management, as the nurse unit manager at Clermont,” Seana said.
“I think it was probably the highlight of my career, those 11 years for practice.
“It was a town I grew up in.
“The babies you were birthing were people you’d gone to school with, and then you were caring for their grandparents at the end of life.
“We had a really good service, and it was a great place to work.
“So that was always something I was going to do – go back to rural nursing because I did love it.”
The opening of Hail Creek mine in 2003 brought change and a move to Mackay for the family, when Seana’s husband Michael took up work at the new mine.
“I worked in theatre for a while when I first went to Mackay,” Seana said.
“But then went back into maternity.
“I had 18 years there and I was nurse unit manager for 14 of those years.”
Now well and truly settled into her role leading the nursing team at Dysart, Seana is busy making plans to start a mothers’ group at the hospital.
“When I came out here there was a community midwife position to be filled,” Seana said.
“I’m very passionate about midwifery and I’ve spent the last 18 years in maternity, so we’ve recruited and started up midwifery clinics.
“We do have a lot of new babies which will be coming along, and some of the women here are a bit isolated and have no extended family.
“So we are now working on establishing a mothers’ group to operate here with input from our allied health team.
“Just in those first few months, it’s pretty important for mums to have some support, especially when they’re isolated.”
Thank you Seana for the great work you are doing in our Dysart community!
