By CASEY NEILL
ZOE Sabri’s passion for nursing the elderly in their own homes has earned her a national nursing award.
The Narre Warren South 24-year-old won the Outstanding Graduate title at last week’s Australian Nursing Awards.
She’s worked at Springvale’s Royal District Nursing Service since last year.
“The main focus is to look after clients in their own home, and our aim is to prevent them from ending up in hospital or permanent care,” she said.
“People are very thankful for it.
“You know you’ve helped that person stay at home and that’s where they want to be.”
The judges described Ms Sabri as a caring nurse and commended her “obvious engagement” with the community, evidenced in a client’s praise of her “amazing people skills and interest in others”.
The HESTA award included a $5000 ME Bank EveryDay transaction account and a $5000 education grant.
“I have been thinking of doing extra study but money has been an issue. It’s been preventing me,” she said.
“I was excited and appreciative to know my hard work is paying off. Somebody has noticed.
“I’ve taken initiative a lot. I was doing more for my clients than I needed to.”
Ms Sabri has always had a passion for health.
“As a child I was interested in the human body and how things work in the human body,” she said.
She decided to give nursing a shot.
“I’ve loved every day of it,” she said.
“It can be very challenging, there’s a lot of on your feet problem-solving.
“You don’t have that support of doctors around you as you would in a hospital setting.
“But I feel like I can build a better relationship with my clients.”
Ms Sabri regularly relies on interpreters and reading body language to communicate with clients from non-English speaking backgrounds.
“It’s definitely a challenge, but it also makes you really culturally aware of their traditions,” she said.
“I’ve even learnt some different words from different languages.”
