Nursing Staff

Barb - Cardiology Nurse

Barb has been with the Auckland Heart Group since 1996.  She is a registered nurse with extensive nursing experience.  These areas include Medical, Coronary Care, Intensive Care and Emergency nursing.

Barb assists in a range of procedures including exercise testing, exercise stress echocardiography, dobutamine stress echocardiography, ECG's, Holter ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and patient education.

To keep fit, Barb enjoys swimming.  She is a lover of hot weather; she describes herself as a 'hot house plant'!

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Carol - Cardiology Nurse

Carol has been associated with the Auckland Heart Group in a part time capacity since its inception in 1997. Before this she was employed by Drs Ted Clarke and Kevin O'Brien where she was the first cardiology nurse in New Zealand to do exercise stress testing in private practice in the 1980's.

She has worked in cardiology for almost all of her nursing career after graduating from Dunedin Hospital and completing the Green Lane Post Graduate Diploma in cardiothoracic nursing. Her experience includes coronary care nursing at Gisborne Hospital and Middlemore Hospital where she was involved in setting up the rehabilitation programme for patients and their families after admission to the coronary care unit (CCU). She has also worked in Green Lane and Mercy Hospitals' postoperative cardiothoracic intensive care units as well as in other intensive care
                            units at Auckland Hospital.

                           Other experience includes fourteen years in a part time capacity at the Mercy Angiography Unit which has dovetailed
                           very well with her work at the Auckland Heart Group.

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Helen - Cardiology Nurse

In 1977 Helen qualified as a registered general and obstetric nurse at Waikato Hospital, and in 1981 she completed the Green Lane Hospital coronary care unit (CCU) course.

She is an experienced cardiology nurse. She began her cardiology work at Waikato Hospital CCU in 1978. Then over the years, she worked in Middlemore Hospital CCU, Waikato Hospital cardiac catheter laboratory, Rotorua Public Hospital CCU and intensive care unit (ICU), and Auckland Public Hospital Department of Critical Care (DCC). More recently Helen has worked at Mercy Hospital CCU with extra experience gained in pre and post operative cardiac surgery (including ICU).

At the Auckland Heart Group, Helen works with the cardiologists performing exercise treadmill tests, stress echocardiography, Dobutamine stress echocardiography and ECG's.

Helen has studied and passed some papers at Massey University with an emphasis on quality assurance and research.  In 2011 Helen completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Science at Auckland University.

Helen also has a boatmaster's certificate and enjoys fishing and kayaking in the waters of Auckland and the Bay of Islands.

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Janet - Cardiology Nurse

After working with Janet for many years in her role as senior staff nurse in the Mercy Hospital Coronary Care unit, we are delighted to have her join us now as a part time cardiology nurse. Janet has post-graduate training in both Intensive Care and Coronary Care, and has not only worked as a nurse, but also as a respiratory technician (for Auckland Physiology). She brings a wealth of experience with her.

Janet graduated as a registered nurse early in the 1980s, and has filled a number of nursing roles in NZ, Australia, London and Saudi Arabia, in both public and in private hospitals. She is an experienced mentor and trainer ,and has managed to balance a family of 2 children, a nursing career, a range of voluntary community services and well as her personal interests that include fishing, skiing and reading.

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Karen - Cardiology Nurse & Nursing Coordinator

Karen trained as a registered nurse at Auckland Hospital and worked in various areas including coronary care, general medical, endocrinology and A&E before moving to North Shore Hospital to help set up the coronary care unit. She completed a postgraduate course in coronary care nursing through Green Lane Hospital.

Karen first started working for Drs. Ted Clarke and Kevin O'Brien in 1991. Since the formation of Auckland Heart Group, in 1997, she has continued to work as a cardiac investigations nurse as well as coordinate professional development for the nurses.

Karen is keen on furthering her own education and gained her Master of Health Practice (Nursing) in 2010.

                                 Her hobbies include reading, walking, tramping and camping in the South Island during the summer.

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Nicola - Cardiology Nurse

Nicola joined the Auckland Heart Group in March 2007, to provide nursing support for the evening clinics held at 94 Mountain Road, Epsom. At the time she was employed during the day by the Harbour Primary Health Organisation (PHO) as the diabetes clinical programme manager; she now works at North Shore Hospital as a diabetes nurse, while still working for the Heart Group in the evenings.

Nicola obtained her Nursing Diploma in 1995, and her Bachelor of Nursing degree in 1999 (Massey University). She has gained postgraduate experience in a number of different areas, while working at Middlemore Hospital, followed by employment in England and Scotland, before returning to New Zealand in August 2000.

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Oksana - Cardiology Nurse

Oksana began her nursing career in Russia and the Ukraine, training in Moscow, before moving to Argentina with her family in 1995. In Buenos Aires she not only learnt to speak Spanish (to add to Russian and English), but also gained a Certificate in Management.

Oksana and her family came to New Zealand in 2000, and she began working as a staff nurse at Green Lane Hospital in 2001, after gaining the necessary NZ nursing qualifications. She is fully registered with the NZ Nursing Council. She has extensive cardiac nursing experience, particularly in the areas of heart failure, diagnostic and interventional cardiac procedures, and care of patients pre- and post-cardiac transplantation.

She has continued her nursing education with post-graduate study in evidence based nursing, cardiac nursing and health assessment at the Auckland University Nursing School, together with hospital study days, cardiac conferences and Nursing Council forums.

Oksana, her husband and two teenage children are happily settled in Auckland after their wanderings. They enjoy living close to Cornwall Park, and morning walks around the mountain.

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Sara - Cardiology Nurse

Sara completed her nursing training in Bristol, England, qualifying in 1994 and nursed in a range of medical and surgical disciplines until specialising in cardiology in 1997.  Sara emigrated to New Zealand in 2003 and has experience in Coronary Care and  Cardiac Investigation Units in both private and public hospitals, in Auckland and in Bristol.

She has completed a postgraduate certificate in clinical teaching, health assessment and cardiac nursing through the Auckland University Nursing School and joined the Auckland Heart Group in March 2012 working part time in the evenings.  During the day Sara looks after her two preschoolers.

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Sue - Cardiology Nurse

Sue completed her nursing training at Wanganui Hospital, then returned to her home town of Gisborne for two years, before travelling overseas to work in London for two years and Melbourne for three years, where she completed a Comprehensive Cardiac course.

On her return to Gisborne, Sue worked for 22 years in intensive care, critical care, coronary care and emergency care. She moved to Auckland in 1997 to work in the cardiothoracic surgical ward at Green Lane (and subsequently Auckland City)
Hospitals before joining Auckland Heart Group in March 2007.
Her varied extracurricular interests include entertaining, gardening, swimming, art, Rotary (Waiheke) and hosting
international equestrian events.

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Suzanne - Cardiology Nurse

Suzanne joined the Auckland Heart Group in March 2012 as a part time cardiology nurse providing treadmill testing and heart monitoring services.  She also works as a senior staff nurse either in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) or in the Cardiology Procedures clinics at the North Shore Hospital.

Suzanne graduated in Auckland in 1991 with a Diploma in Nursing and completed a Bachelor of Health Science in 2003.  She has extensive surgical nursing experience working in both Auckland and at the London Bridge Private Hospital in London while on a working holiday.  Upon returning to New Zealand, she worked in the Emergency Department at the North Shore Hospital before joining the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) in 2003.

                                     In her spare time she enjoys family time, particularly summer camping and the snow - boarding throughout the winter season.  Her current challenge is restoring an old bungalow to its former glory so she can often be spotted in demolotion yards or with a paint brush or drawings in hand. 

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Trina - Cardiology Nurse

Trina was born in Zimbabwe and completed her general nursing training in Cape Town, South Africa. Her first placement as a new graduate nurse was in the coronary care unit and her interest in cardiac nursing dates from this time. After travelling and nursing overseas in the United Kingdom and Europe, she returned to Johannesburg, South Africa where she worked in cardiac intensive care and completed a post graduate course in Intensive Nursing Science, passing with Honours.

Trina and her husband immigrated to New Zealand in 1988, and she worked in the Intensive Care Unit at Wakefield Hospital, Wellington for a number of years, while her three children were young. The family moved to Auckland in 2000, and for the last eight years Trina has been nursing at North Harbour Southern Cross Hospital.