Anna Harrison, a former top high-performance Kiwi athlete awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, has taken up a key role at Middlemore's Kidz First Hospital.
Anna is a New Zealand Silver Ferns netball and national indoor and beach volleyball player.
She’s been given a four-month internship as a Kidz First Play Specialist, in association with High Performance Sport New Zealand.
Anna earned 89 caps in the Silver Ferns retiring from international netball in 2017. She also played on the Beach Volleyball world tour 2007-2010.
She says, “I’ve always been fascinated by work with children, and it’s amazing to be given this opportunity as I transition out of being an athlete.
I am hopeful this will be the start of a great future working in the paediatric area.”
Anna’s married to sports scientist Craig Harrison, and they have three children.
The Kidz First Play Specialist Service started in the 1970s with playcentre volunteers in the Burns unit as well as a trolley play service for children within the paediatric orthopaedic unit.
The Service now boasts a team of 15 staff based at the Kidz First inpatient wards, Emergency Department, as well as in the MRI, Intensive Care, and Neonatal Intensive Care units.