Cathy comes from Nambilya District in the Western Highlands Province. She grew up in a Christian family and received all her education from Church-run institutions and her life in employment has strong links to the Catholic Church.
Cathy became a registered nurse after completing a certificate course in nursing at Vunapope Nursing College, in East New Britain Province. This was the beginning of her successful career in nursing.
“Doing studies in-country is quite different from studying overseas. When you are studying in-country it is easier to go to the local facilitators and seek assistance. You also have a network of friends to rely on when you face challenges.” Cathy recalls. With her Certificate in Nursing, Cathy worked as a Nurse for the Western Highlands Catholic Health Services where she found great reward in addressing community health problems.
While working, Cathy then started to seriously to consider furthering her education and applied for a undergraduate degree in Nursing at Monash University via a distance education program funded by her employer – Catholic Health Services. “I was so privileged to have been selected to study the degree program by distance which was offered through Monash University. I had a strong motivation to study and with commitment I completed the program with higher achievement ratings,” says Cathy.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Cathy realised the high academic expectations and decided it was now time to apply for an Australia Awards Scholarship to under take a Master’s degree. Cathy applied for a scholarship and was accepted for an award and commenced her Masters degree in Nursing at her old university, Monash University.
“Studying overseas was very challenging but we have to open up ourselves. We need to call for help rather than sitting New Britain Province. This was the beginning of her successful career in nursing. “Doing studies in-country is quite different from studying overseas. When you are studying in-country it is easier to go to the local facilitators and seek assistance. You also have a network of friends to rely on when you face challenges.” Cathy recalls.
With her Certificate in Nursing, Cathy worked as a Nurse for the Western Highlands Catholic Health Services where she found great reward in addressing community health problems. While working, Cathy then started to seriously to consider furthering her education and applied for a undergraduate degree in Nursing at Monash University via a distance education program funded by her employer – Catholic Health Services.
“I was so privileged to have been selected to study the degree program by distance which was offered through Monash University. I had a strong motivation to study and with commitment I completed the program with higher achievement ratings,” says Cathy.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Cathy realised the high academic expectations and decided it was now time to apply for an Australia Awards Scholarship to under take a Master’s degree. Cathy applied for a scholarship and was accepted for an award and commenced her Masters degree in Nursing at her old university, Monash University.
“Studying overseas was very challenging but we have to open up ourselves. We need to call for help rather than sitting over it,” says Cathy.
Cathy successfully completed her postgraduate degree and upon returning to PNG was appointed Principal of Kumin Community Health Worker (CHW) school in the Southern Highlands Province. With her advanced qualification and new skills and knowledge, she has made significant administration changes in the operations of Kumin CHW.
“I took an ambitious fund-raising drive with justification that the institution’s training program was community-based and needed all the support to train young people to return to their communities to improve health services. I want to ensure that the students get the best they could.” says Cathy.
Cathy worked tirelessly to achieve her dream. Through her enthusiastic leadership, the academic and administrative standards improved drastically including a computerised network for student’s benefit.
