Author trained and qualified as a registered nurse in 1968 before travelling and working as a trained nurse in Canada and Australia, she worked in a variety of nursing fields, including Emergency and Paediatric nursing. In 1971 she migrated to Australia and continued nursing as a registered nurse before transferring into nursing education and completed a university Diploma in Nursing Education in 1980. She continued to be involved in nursing education in both the hospital and tertiary systems before obtaining a post graduate degree in Public Health Management. In her later nursing career she used her skills to teach medical terminology in community colleges before retiring in 2006.