Karmen - Sonographer, Bay of Plenty

My name is Karmen, I am a Sonographer and I came to NZ from Canada in January this year.

The easiest part for me was having Accent Health staff to guide me and answer any and all of my questions every step of the way. From the very first contact by phone to learning to Skype to my arrival here to a welcome package filled with goodies and helpful snacks. Accent Health is a great team and I really liked their friendliness and attention to detail. They really wanted to help me and went above and beyond to investigate jobs for me and they truly wanted me to be successful.

The most challenging part of the process was waiting and being patient with the process and getting all documents and paper work aligned to get approval to come. I started the process probably a year ago in January 2014 and it took about a full year for things to really fall in to place.

My first Impressions of New Zealand were how helpful and friendly the people are. The scenery is amazing and beautiful, and the climate is wonderful, and these are the best parts too. Hours of Sunshine, beautiful beaches, Mountains, the ocean, the culture of the Maori people and learning.

Probably the main major difference I have noticed from practicing Sonography in Canada is the terminology. Learning the language and common terms has been both interesting and fun. For example, in Canada if someone is going for surgery we call it the OR or operating room, but in NZ it is called the theatre...... I go to the theatre back home to go to the movies lol - We call it movie theater. Also, terminology can have a slightly different spelling or name. Such as Amniotic fluid being called Liquor. Terms can be different everywhere depending on where people have trained and how they trained.

I have found that Midwives are a much bigger part of a woman's pregnancy here and there are a lot more of them here and it has been great to learn new ways of how things are done in the obstetrical area compared to back home.

It has also been great to learn and compare the differences in Health care and how it is funded and provided to New Zealanders' verses Canadians.

I am looking forward to more exploring and learning to come both at work and on my days off!