Wise words from a nurse, mentor, and world-traveller

From the labour ward to cruise ship nursing, Jill Fasick has never said no to an opportunity.

“One of best things I’ve got out of nursing is to seize the moment, and boy have I,” laughs Jill.

For the last 10 years Jill has worked at the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit at Forté Hospital. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Jill trained as a nurse after a career in psychology. Now, 44 years later, she says she “is done”.

“I have recently turned 75 and I just felt it was time to retire, to get back to my music, painting and continue travelling and learning.”

Jill’s career has been varied, to say the least. She has worked across labour and delivery, emergency, recovery, neo-natal intensive care and ICU. But perhaps Jill is best known for the Paculeles, a ukelele group she formed after the Christchurch earthquakes while working in the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU) at Christchurch Hospital.

Why ukeleles? Because Jill says no one can play the ukelele and be sad.

Jill arrived in New Zealand in 1996. She was in her 40s, her children had left home, and she decided to take her first overseas trip. After arriving in New Zealand and hearing about the country’s nursing shortage, she decided to stay.

“I thought it would be cool to work in another country for a while. I planned to stay for a year, but I’ve loved it and haven’t looked back.”

Jill worked first in Auckland then Gisborne before moving to Christchurch in 2000 and, throughout it all, has seized every moment.

“I never said no to an opportunity as I figured the more skills I had, the more marketable I was, and I thought that would open up opportunities, which it did.”

One of those opportunities was working as a cruise ship nurse.

“On a cruise ship you have to be able to do everything. I learnt how to take and read x-rays, did bloods, ran labs, ordered medicines. It also allowed me to see the world and I would always find a ship that took me back to the states so I could see family.”

Jill would escape the Christchurch winters with a three-to-four-month cruise ship contract, before returning to her Christchurch home for the warmer months.

In 2014, just a year after Forté opened, Jill left her role at a private hospital in Christchurch to work at Forté Hospital.

“I knew a lot of the nurses at Forté and they were telling me how great it was and that I should come across.”

Initially attracted by Forté’s focus on sustainability (she admits she’s a real ‘greenie’), Jill stayed so long because of how Forté made her feel.

“I have never felt as valued as I did at Forté. I worked in such a wonderful team and had an amazing boss. Out of all my leaders I’ve had through my life I would say there are about three nurses that really stand out, and my boss was one of them. That’s why I stayed so long. She’s a wonderful leader.”

That leader is Dorothy Gelens, the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit Manager at Forté Health.

Dorothy says Jill is hugely inspiring, always listening to and encouraging others. She says her Paculele group became a huge source of support for many nurses post-quake and is still going strong today.

“It wasn’t necessarily to do with the music, it was to do with wellbeing. Through that group Jill encouraged others to have hope and believe in the future and, as a result, lifelong friendships have been created,” Dorothy says.

As well as bringing her music to Forte, Jill also brought her sustainability lens.

“It was Jill that came up with the idea to recycle the single-use socks we use when patients go to theatre. As a result of her idea our socks are now washed and distributed to many organisations in our community including schools, the City Mission and the Red Cross. She has been an integral part of our team and an amazing mentor – we will miss her,” Dorothy says.

Jill says she didn’t set out to be a mentor but that she has always encouraged nurses to never stop expanding their horizons.

“I think my story has opened their eyes. I tell nurses if you get a chance to learn another area, do it. The more versatile you are, the more doors it opens for you, and it stops you getting burnt out. You need to keep growing and learning as a person. It can be uncomfortable, but it’s also exciting.”

Jill says being a nurse has given her an appreciation for life that other people don’t have.

“You’ve got to love helping and caring for people but if you do, nursing is an amazing career. My patients have given me what money can’t buy. They fill your soul, and that’s pretty special.”

Photo: Jill Fasick during her travels to Sicily in 2023.