NZ Nurses Support Colleagues In Cyclone Ravaged Niue
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation is expecting strong support from its members for the NZNO relief fund set up today
to assist Niue Islanders in their cyclone ravaged island.
NZNO manager Trevor Warr said NZNO has set up the relief fund at the suggestion of a nurse concerned about the
devastation faced by the Niuean people.
“We are particularly concerned about the destruction caused to the Island’s hospital and will ask Niuean nurses to
allocate the priorities for the NZNO Niue Relief Fund,” he said.
“All nurses know how difficult it is to deal with emergency situations when health facilities are desperately needed,
and how much more difficult it is without an adequate hospital.”
Trevor Warr said NZNO members wished to express support for the family and community of Cathy Alec, the Niuean nurse
killed in the cyclone.
NZNO has made an initial contribution of $5,000 to the fund and is encouraging nurses and other health workers to
respond generously.
Trevor Warr said it was appropriate for NZNO to give strong support to colleagues in Niue as New Zealand was part of the
Pacific.
“We will be contacting our colleagues in Australia’s nurses’ union, ANF, and the International Council of Nurses to seek
their support also,” he said.