Photo: David Caird (The Herald Sun)
Specialist nurse to footballer; North star Tahni Nestor is a woman of many talents.
As Australia faces the coronavirus epidemic, she's at the centre of the fight.
Only weeks ago, the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos' season came to a premature end. Of course, Nestor was disappointed at the time, but now, it's all about perspective.
“There is a bigger picture, there is a lot going on in the world today and people in a lot worse-off situations than we (the footballers) are at the moment,” Nestor told The Herald Sun.
“At the end of the day we have got to do all we can to stop the spread of this virus and if that means not playing football then that is exactly what it means.
“This thing at the moment is much bigger than football.
“Work gives me a good perspective, because you could see what was happening around us and the change just in our department to cope with what has been happening.
“I’ve got teammates around me, not only did they lose football, but a lot of them have lost their jobs as well.”
Nestor, a critical nurse at the Austin for six years, has an important message for everyone.
“It’s very important, the social distancing message, and that people really understand what that actually means,” she said.
“Stay at home if you don’t need to go out. You can’t be blase about these sort of things and think it won’t affect you.
“This is something that in some way or another is going to affect everyone.”
With football now feeling like a distant memory among the COVID-19 crisis, it's Nestor’s ‘off-field’ team which is working around the clock to keep Australians safe.
“One of the things I love about football is that you get to play this amazing sport with your friends but it’s similar with working in a hospital environment,’’ she said.
“You’re kind of with teammates. It’s not really like anything we have seen before, or experienced. It’s a bit of a roller coaster at the moment. It’s a rapidly changing situation that we are having to adapt to every day.
“We are used to going to work and not knowing what we are going to turn up to but at the moment this is something completely different.
“There is a lot of stress, there is a lot of unknown.’’
