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Passion and determination rewarded at Netcare Education’s Gauteng North East campus graduation ceremony

Victories for individuals, education and healthcare as nurses and paramedics graduate

Friday, August 14 2015

Netcare Education’s Gauteng North East Campus, in Pretoria, recently held a graduation ceremony for 244 students who have achieved various nursing and emergency medical service qualifications.

Six students graduated from the enrolled nursing auxiliaries programme, 132 students qualified as enrolled nurses and 97 qualified as registered general nurses. In addition, three enrolled nurses and two registered nurses each completed the in-service certificate in elementary critical care nursing, while four completed their diplomas in medical and surgical nursing science, also in the field of critical care nursing.

From the Faculty of Emergency and Critical Care, 22 students graduated as critical care assistants, while 43 qualified as ambulance emergency assistants.

Netcare’s general manager: emergency, trauma, transplant CSI, Mande Toubkin, delivered the keynote address at the graduation ceremony. Toubkin, who herself trained as a nurse, today holds a senior management position at Netcare.

Pic: Bronwyn Hummel (left) and Amanda Wade of Netcare Pretoria East Hospital were two of the nursing students whose achievements were acknowledged at the Netcare Education Gauteng North East Campus graduation ceremony. Bronwyn was awarded the Netcare Education Silver Medal, while Amanda received the Netcare Education Campus Manager’s Award.

“Every single one of us in this room comes with some sort of history and you may have had to overcome many obstacles and struggles to get to where you are today. I know that some of you leave your families at home for up to nine months to further your education and create a better life, and that’s no mean feat,” Toubkin told the graduates.

Special achievements and awards

Special prizes were also awarded to the following students:

  • The Enrolled Nurse Academic Award was jointly won by Micheline Shabani and Pabalelo Lekgoro of Netcare Unitas Hospital, who both achieved an outstanding mark of 78%.
  • The Netcare Education Silver Medal was awarded to Bronwyn Hummel of Netcare Pretoria East Hospital who achieved an overall mark of 74%.
  • The Netcare Education Campus Manager’s Award for the student who best epitomises the Netcare values both in her job in a Netcare hospital and at campus went to Amanda Wade of Netcare Pretoria East Hospital.

Mature students excel and inspire

Both Bronwyn Hummel and Amanda Wade took up nursing as a career later in life and proved indefatigable in pursuing their passion for quality healthcare.

Netcare Education Silver medallist Bronwyn, a 52-year-old mother of three sons, decided four years ago to follow her dream of being a nurse. Bronwyn, who achieved the highest overall marks for both clinical and theory throughout the two years of her bridging course, now practises as a registered nurse at the Netcare Pretoria East Hospital. She is taking a well-deserved break from her studies, but has indicated that she would like to pursue her passion for trauma nursing in the future.

Amanda, the winner of the campus manager award, began her studies towards her three-year general nursing programme in 1982 but terminated her studies after two years. In 2002 she returned to the profession and enrolled for a bridging course to qualify as a registered general nurse but was diagnosed with breast cancer before she could complete it.

Amanda not only won the fight against cancer but also went on to do the bridging course in 2009, and in 2011 completed the elementary critical care programme, having specialised in intensive care nursing. She completed her post-basic diploma in critical care in 2014. She joined the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) forum this year as an Alumni of Netcare Education, serving as chairperson.

Netcare Education, which was established 26 years ago, has two campuses in Gauteng and one campus each in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. Netcare Education’s Faculty of Nursing and Ancillary Healthcare (FNAH) is accredited by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) as a private nursing education institution and has provisional registration with the Department of Higher Education.

A total of 1 574 nursing and emergency and critical care students graduated from the Netcare Education campuses during July and in August.

Ends

Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare Education
Contact : Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney, Sarah Wilson or Meggan Saville
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or
[email protected]