By Nick Rowe

A passion for lifelong learning and a love of nursing has taken Onwilasini Stewart full circle from her early days as a nurse in provincial Thailand to senior roles in public health at West Gippsland Hospital.

International Nurses Day (IND) was held around the world yesterday. It is held on the birthday of Florence Nightingale - the founder of modern nursing. IND celebrates the vital contribution nurses make all over the world to the societies they live in and Onwilasini is an exemplar of the profession.
"On" as she is known in the corridors of ward three, has been working at the hospital since 2020 following a distinguished career in her home country.
On was born in the Uttaradit province in Thailand which sits close to the Laos border. Her parents worked at a fruit and vegetable market to provide for their children - On being the youngest of five. They rose at 3am to work at the market and were determined their children would have opportunities for education to allow them to have a good life.
"My dad wanted one of his kids to be a teacher or a nurse," she said.
On remembers getting up in the middle of the night and working with her parents at the market during the school holidays.
On finished school and graduated with a Diploma of Nursing Science (equivalent to a Bachelor of Nursing) in 1993. During her first two years as a nurse she was dispatched all over the country to various hospitals before she returned home to work at the Lublae Hospital. In the following few years she worked in general nursing, emergency, critical care and stroke units.
On had a specific interest in public and community health and in the early 2000s she furthered her career by undertaking a Masters of Nursing at a university in Chiang Mai - a 400 kilometre drive from home. Online studies had not taken off at that stage so On was faced with an 800 kilometre round trip every week through mountainous northern Thailand.
It was not always a smooth trip. "I remember when it was raining worrying sometimes if I would make it there and back!"
After graduating with her masters, On returned to her local hospital as a lecturer and mentor to student nurses.
An interest in community and public health grew. The lure of further study beckoned and she undertook a PhD in public health at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. This was a full time occupation for On and took four years to complete. To supplement her income she worked part time in private hospitals in Bangkok.
It was around this time that she met her husband, John Stewart, a Melburnian who had worked in law enforcement and as a security consultant across the world. On and John were married in 2010 and On graduated with her PhD in 2013.
From 2013 to 2016 On returned to Uttaradit to work in nursing before returning to academia when she was appointed a lecturer in public health at her local university.
Early in 2020, it became apparent John's mother in Melbourne was not well so it was decided that John and On would make the move to Australia. Having had family on a dairy farm in Drouin in his childhood and fond memories of the area, John and On moved to Darnum in January of 2020.
As they arrived in Australia the pandemic hit and international flights were soon suspended. Tragically, during this time On's brother died from COVID and her father also died but due to restrictions she was unable to fly home for their funerals. She was able to return to Thailand to see her family in 2022. "It was such an emotional time," On said.
On hoped to begin work as a nurse as soon as she could but at the time the Australian nursing and midwifery board (Ahpra) changed the requirements for foreign trained nurses - meaning candidates had to undertake more detailed clinical and language training to be able to work in Australia.
"While I was doing my Ahpra training and during the COVID outbreak I thought I would write to the Warragul hospital and ask if they had any volunteer positions." The hospital replied saying that while there were no volunteer roles on the ward that there was a personal care assistant (PCA) role in the medical and COVID wards.
On took on the position until she gained her Australian nursing registration at the beginning of 2023. She informed her nurse unit manager at WGH - Tania Piner of her qualification and it was then that On's nursing career came back around as she was offered a position in the nursing team on the medical ward.
"I am eternally grateful to Tania that she believed in me and gave me a position. I love the medical unit team, it is like a family and I love coming to work everyday to make a difference to our patients' lives."
After years in the academic field and the stresses of managing large teams in public health, On realised why she entered nursing in the first place. "I learned that working in academia I had missed working with patients," she said. On finds working with patients in Australia rewarding. "Often in Thailand one nurse will be looking after 15 to 20 patients at a time. But here we are lucky and it is more like four to five - so you get to know your patients better."
However, On is not laying low and is studying a postgraduate qualification in clinical education at Charles Sturt University and has completed a Certificate IV in training and assessment Federation TAFE in Warragul. "As a Buddhist, we are taught that fulfilling our 'merit', will lead to happiness."
On is a big advocate for nursing and continues to enjoy mentoring student nurses. While night shifts are not her favourite, she encourages people to join the industry.
"It's challenging - but don't give up, don't stop learning. It gives you pride to make a difference in people's lives."