Tuesday is International Nurses Day and an Orange nurse is paving the way for more men to take up the profession and refute any lingering stereotype that it's women's work.
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Ben Chiarella did not envision leaving a city corporate job to become a nurse but since changing careers and making the tree change to Orange he hasn't looked back.
Mr Chiarella now works as the LiveBetter NSW manager for aged and community services and said he was looking for a more fulfilling career when he made the career change in his early 30s.
"My last role was working in restructures, looking at organisational restructures in Sydney," Mr Chiarella said.
"The best thing I ever did was change careers."
He said initially he had a lot of people question his career change and air some out-dated views.
"I faced a lot of people when I was working in corporate Sydney, a lot of people looked at me strangely," Mr Chiarella said.
He said he recalled people approaching him and saying, "why would you want to be a nurse?" however, since then some of those people have reached out and acknowledged what he's achieved.
"I think it's a wonderful career, there isn't a workforce that gives you more options and nursing is really a door way into that," Mr Chiarella said.
He said his mother, Professor Mary Chiarella, who was at one stage the chief nurse for NSW, also supported him and helped him make an informed decision.
"She introduced me to men of all walks of life who have had very different career paths starting as nurses," he said.
Mr Chiarella completed his graduate year at Orange Hospital working in the emergency department but his career has taken him away from the front line.
"I never imagined I would end up in the community care sector," he said.
I think it's a wonderful career, there isn't a workforce that gives you more options and nursing is really a door way into that.
- Ben Chiarella
Mr Chiarella said he liked working in the hospital emergency department but he saw people presenting with advanced health conditions that could have been managed earlier in the community.
Having seen that need for earlier community-based primary healthcare support he took the opportunity when LiveBetter approached him with a job opportunity.
Through his role he runs a remote telehealth home monitoring service and a nurse telephone service.
He said the phone-based nurse engagement services were about helping people in regional areas, who generally have worse health outcomes and have to manage travelling large distances to health and care services.
He said his role is also about helping clients get healthcare support in the home.
We wanted to show men that it is a really good career and it's OK to care.
- Ben Chiarella
Mr Chiarella is also a member of the Australian College of Nursing's Men in Nursing Working Party.
He said he has played a less active role of late due to work commitments but still finds it important to advocate for men in nursing and to encourage men to take up nursing as a career.
"There's not really any positive stereotypes for men in nursing," Mr Chiarella siad.
He said in movies and TV the male nurses were often sidelined or as used in slapstick comedy like Meet the Fockers, or even as an evil nurse.
"We wanted to show men that it is a really good career and it's OK to care," Mr Chiarella said.
"It's often seen as women's work, that's often what society sees as a work choice. It is such a wonderful profession.
"You look at the people who provide the machines and IT, a lot of them come from nursing. There's so many options."
Mr Chiarella said the coronavirus pandemic has also shown some of the best of humanity and has also shown the strength and commitment of nurses and health workers around the world.
Mr Chiarella has now been working in nursing for almost five years and as well as enjoying his work he said the tree change to Orange has also created a better balance for his family.
He said the move to the country was necessary due to the "fairly significant pay drop" that came with the career change.
"One of the things I discussed with my wife [Christine] was a lifestyle change, lowering cost of living, but also a lifestyle that provided us a chance to be present parents," Mr Chiarella said.
He said it has given them more time to spend with their children rather than undertaking long daily commutes to and from work in Sydney.
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