24 February 2021
Whyalla Hospital nurse Nyssa Hartup is a fair dinkum kid from the country, having grown up in the Eyre Peninsula town since moving from the Upper Hunter Valley at age five.
“I like the fact that you have both arid and desert living plus the beach within 12 minutes of each other,’’ she says.
“From one end of town to the other is 7.2km, so it’s nice, it’s compacted. It has everything. It has an area that you can go and ride quad bikes on or you can go and explore the arid lands and up through the mountains.
“And then you’ve just got massive white sand beaches that you can swim in or you can paddle next to the dolphins.
“We’ve got a pod of about 23-24 dolphins here, they swim around the marina and follow you around. And they’re so pleasant.’’
When she isn’t paddling with dolphins or soaking up the Outback serenity, Nyssa is a diabetes educator and post-surgical nurse. Currently on maternity leave, she has a six-month-old daughter, Isabella, which has “made me just relax a little bit more. Take every goo and every gaa together. Every smile is just as warming as the next one, it’s been beautiful’’.
Whyalla, an iron ore refining city of 22,000, about a four-hour drive north-west of Adelaide, has a long history of social problems; the hospital recently made headlines with 22 reported assaults in barely over a month.
Nyssa says the city does have its “significant share of drug and alcohol-related badness … much like everywhere else.
“But we also have an ageing population here and just not enough support for that ageing population, much like the disability services. There needs to be more assistance and funding for the aged care and disability services.’’
Her desire to go into nursing was partly fuelled by her personal battle with Type 1 diabetes.
“I did post grad studies in diabetes education. So, I am working towards completing the credentialled process for a diabetes educator, this would be a huge benefit for country nursing specialists,’’ Nyssa says.
“I can counsel people who have got chronic diseases and talk from experience but also from a knowledge book. I can actually relate to people who have got diabetes and what it’s like to grow up with it.
“It’s an autoimmune condition. People with Type 1 can’t produce any insulin so they actually have to live by injections or live on an insulin pump that’s portable, sits in their pocket,’’ she says.
“Your whole world is about monitoring eating, activity levels, stress levels, hormones, anything relating to hormones, living completely dependent on insulin. Whereas Type 2 you have insulin, it’s just not as effective anymore or your body is just not producing enough.’’
Nyssa likens the treatment involved with diabetes to action movies. Of the tablet medication used with Type 2, she says “it’s like chucking Arnold Schwarzenegger into a movie, it just gives it (insulin) extra boom and extra credit. Type 1, we’ve actually got to have the whole action duo of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to attack and conquer the world.’’
Being a WSR at Whyalla Hospital, Nyssa’s very much a union nurse and would “absolutely” recommend joining the ANMF (SA Branch).
“Even if it’s just for your credentialling, your performance development review, all the education, that’s just imperative,’’ she says.
“It’s so accessible, you can do it on an iPad while travelling in a car, for example.
“There’s such a range of educational tools … and having all that information about the EBAs and nursing award rights.
“It’s also about your indemnity insurance, $10 million (worth), that’s essential these days.’’