"I had one patient, he was sawing timber when the chainsaw slipped and cut his leg.

His leg was completely cut off.

That man was deep in the bush, it was a long way for him to get to the clinic. As soon as he reached the clinic I gave him an IV with fluids to help him. I was frightened the patient would go into shock, he lost so much blood.

Our radio wasn’t working properly and there was no mobile phone coverage.

I dressed his leg and packed the wound with a lot of gauze to stop the bleeding. And we left straight away. I was really scared, because the distance was so far. It took 4 hours, the boat trip.

He was awake, I talked with him. I just comforted him, told him not to worry, that he would be alright and we were on the way to getting help.

By the time he reached Tetere Beach, the patient had gone into shock. An ambulance took them the rest of the way to the hospital. He lost his leg.

Recently I went back there for a holiday, the patient was there in the village. He said, “Thank you so much. You really helped me, you saved my life.” I was happy to hear him say that.

I said, “That’s ok, we nurses are always there to help people when they are sick, to take care of them.” Everywhere we go, we are saving people’s lives."