A warm welcome for Cecile

A desire to explore new environments was what initially led Cecile Ramirez to relocate to Australia as an Internationally Qualified Nurse, however, it was the warm welcome from the Warracknabeal community that kept her here.
Already working as a nurse in her home country, the Philippines, Cecile moved to Singapore seeking a change of scenery.
There, she worked as an Enrolled Nurse for 4 years before upgrading her skills to become a Registered Nurse.
Having her sister and friends (who had already moved to Australia) relaying how great the country is to Cecile almost-daily was enough motivation for her to investigate converting her registration.
Initially converting to a New Zealand Registered Nurse licence, Cecile spent 3-4 months going through the processes to convert this to an AHPRA licence which would allow her to work as an RN in Australia.
“Once I got my AHPRA licence, I started looking for jobs in Australia,” Cecile said.
“I found RNH so did some research on the area and Warracknabeal looked to be peaceful,” she said.
Starting with RNH as a Yarriambiack Lodge RN in July, Cecile said while there are some similarities between nursing practices in Singapore and Australia, it took time to adjust to the big move, not to mention adapting to the Aussie slang.
However, the married mum of two also received a very warm welcome from the community and now enjoys the peace and quiet the town offers, as well as the opportunities RNH offers to upskill.
“I have done safe patient handling training and will do further aged care training in the future. There are great opportunities to improve, or increase, your knowledge,” she said.
Thanking her brother-in-law who assisted with converting her licence and moving to the region, Cecile offered the following words of advice to others considering the move.
“Have patience, the process can take time. However, there are a lot of good opportunities for families here, especially in a town like Warracknabeal”.