Military Leader and veteran of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Kylie Hasse, has been unveiled by Chief Executive Women (CEW) as this year’s Bonnie Boezeman AO Leadership in Nursing scholar.
Today is International Nurses Day, and this year’s theme is ‘Our Nurses. Our Future.’ It’s a time to learn from the lessons of the pandemic and ensure that nurses are protected, respected and valued. This scholarship represents an important way CEW supports Australian nurses.
LTCOL Hasse has been exposed to many critical roles in nursing during her distinguished career in defence. She’s worked across primary health care and education, and delivered high-end trauma and humanitarian aid in diverse and often under resourced environments. She was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 for nine months, and to Iraq in 2014/15 for six months. It was here she saw multiple multisystem trauma cases and on numerous occasions treated and coordinated mass casualty events. Her experience in Iraq saw her awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for outstanding leadership and dedicated duty as a Nursing Officer.
This scholarship will give her the opportunity to study a Master of Healthcare Leadership at Southern Cross University.
“Being a role model for Nurses within the Defence force as assisting with the growth and development of the profession is something I really value,” she says.
“Often as a nurse within the Australian Army you have little understanding about where your merits sit amongst our civilian counterparts.
“The Bonnie Boezeman scholarship appealed to me because it not only focuses on supporting nurses to build and achieve their leadership potential but also promotes women to achieve their leadership potential as individuals.
“I’m excited for the opportunities this will bring and how enhancing my knowledge will assist me in all my future endeavours.”
Bonnie Boezeman AO is one of the founding members of Chief Executive Women, the benefactor of this scholarship, and a passionate supporter of women leaders in nursing.
“Nursing has far reaching responsibilities such as critical care, nursing homes, pandemics as well as nursing within the Defence Forces,” Boezeman says.
“The resilience shown by this year’s outstanding winner, in her varied and successful career, makes Kylie Hasse a worthy candidate for her next step along her leadership path.
