Contribution of clinical manager recognised

By Petrina Wright | Posted: Sunday April 28, 2024

Vickery Court’s Kim Nicholson has gone from new graduate nurse to clinical manager in the space of less than eight years.

“The nurse mentors I had when I first started as a new graduate nurse provided encouragement and helped develop my nursing skills to provide a very high level of care for our residents,” she said.

“Thank you to Carol and Enliven for supporting me and providing opportunities for career progression.”

Kim‘s first introduction to Vickery Court was while on a nursing placement as part of her Bachelor of Nursing studies at the Southern Institute of Technology.

On graduating, she started working at the care home as a new graduate nurse. Since that time, Kim has risen up through the ranks to the position of clinical manager, a role she has held for the past three years.

Kim had taken time away from Vickery Court, doing a stint working for the Southern District Health Board in 2020 before returning to the care home six months later.

She had wanted to experience another type of nursing, but quickly realised she preferred working in aged care.

“I really like learning about our residents and their life stories. They have amazing stories to tell.

“Developing relationships with them and being part of their journey towards the end is quite rewarding.”

Looking back over her time at Vickery Court, unsurprisingly, the years of COVID-19 and the resulting nursing shortage had been the most challenging.

However, there had been many highlights.

Kim said she had enjoyed mentoring registered nursing staff and watching them have success in their roles. She had also enjoyed developing relationships with the staff and sharing in their lives.

She is leaving Enliven to take up a position at another aged care provider. Her last day at Vickery Court is Friday, May 3.

Having worked for Vickery Court for virtually her entire professional career to date, she said she was ready for a new challenge.

“I wanted to learn from other facilities…for professional development.”

She thanked Enliven and the staff at Vickery Court for their support.

“They have been a fantastic team.”

Enliven director Carol Riddle said it had been a pleasure watching Kim grow as a nurse from new graduate to clinical manager.

“Kim is an example of the pathways that age care offers nurses and I’m very proud that we encourage and support our staff into these roles.”

We are truly thankful to Kim for her commitment and for the difference she has made for residents at Vickery Court over the past eight years, Carol said.

“Kim has worked in the aged care sector over some of the most challenges and unprecedented times with the pandemic. If it wasn’t for key staff like Kim going above and beyond at this time, we would not have been able to operate.”