NT movement disorders specialist nurse Yolanda Hernandez Gomez to stay another year after campaign
The job of a nurse who has made a profound difference to the lives of Parkinson’s survivors in the Top End has been saved after an energetic campaign by her patients, who are now calling for NT Health to make her permanent.
Northern Territory
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The job of a nurse who has made a profound difference to the lives of Parkinson’s survivors in the Top End has been saved after an energetic campaign by her patients, who are now calling for NT Health to make her permanent.
Yolanda Hernandez Gomez, the Territory’s sole movement disorders specialist nurse and winner of the 2024 ANAMF NT Nurse of the Year, arrived on scene about March 2022 after her position was funded by the commonwealth under its Movement Disorders Nurse Specialist Pilot Program.
The commonwealth cash was set to run out before the end of the financial year, but after a concerted effort spearheaded by the Parkinson’s NT Support Group, Ms Hernandez Gomez’s position has been made safe for the 2025–26 financial year, after a one-year extension was negotiated.
At a recent meeting of the support group, attendees were effusive in their praise for Ms Hernandez Gomez.
Michele Willsher, whose husband David lived with Parkinson’s for more than a decade before his passing in March, said the specialist nurse “made an incredible difference to our lives”.
“She suddenly helped us connect with a lot of people,” Ms Willsher said.
“When my husband was diagnosed 13 years ago, he walked into a doctor’s surgery at Darwin. “He was told, you’ve got Parkinson’s, come back when you want some medication.
“He was stunned, he was shocked, and he was offered no support.”
David’s experience illustrated the other important role played by Ms Hernandez Gomez – mentoring and advising other medical professionals locally, so they become versed in best-practice treatment for people living with Parkinson’s, Ms Willsher said.
Graeme Fox said Ms Hernandez Gomez helped his wife Vicki obtain a Home Care Package.
Another attendee attested to the specialist nurse’s ability to get one of the Territory’s vanishingly few – just two – neurologists on the phone, whereas if she had called herself, she would have met a brick wall at reception.
Another way Ms Hernandez Gomez made a difference to the lives of Top End Parkinson’s survivors was her identification of enough money left over from the commonwealth funding to employee a part-time speech pathologist to provide additional support.
Jeanette Jagst, the convener of the support group, said having a specialist nurse was important because “lots of doctors still don’t understand Parkinson’s”.
“They fill out the scripts but they can’t advise on the condition,” she said.
She urged NT Health to continue to fund Ms Hernandez Gomez after the commonwealth pot of gold depletes, and even consider hiring more specialist nurses.
Ms Jagst said Tasmania employed six movement disorders specialist nurses, while Victoria converted its four specialist nurses to state employees after its commonwealth trial elapsed.
A spokesman for the Northern Territory Primary Health Network said it did not know whether Ms Hernandez Gomez would receive another funding extension for 2026–27.
Health Minister Steve Edgington said a third public neurologist in the Territory was expected to commence work “in the near future”.
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