Commencing a career in nursing at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 presented Meriya Poudel Baniya Chhetri (BNg(PreReg) ’21) with great challenges – but also introduced her to the crucial field of Disability that quickly became the focus of her energetic application of nursing skills.
She saw great inequity the provision of disability care and services, and having identified specific gaps in the health system, she immersed herself in learning about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and designed solutions that are now embedded in the way an entire organisation delivers disability nursing care.
“When I began my nursing career at Flinders Private Hospital, I gained clinical experience in post-orthopaedic surgical care, but soon through my interactions with people having lived experience in disability, I felt strong pull towards the sector. I also recognised an underrepresentation of nursing services in the disability sector – a field that I believe is often overlooked in traditional nursing education,” says Meriya.
“I wanted to see more nursing focus on care for people with complex needs, to ensure they receive dignified, trauma-informed and person-centred support under the NDIS – not just in hospitals, but also delivered at the highest level throughout the community, and especially in people’s homes.”
Meriya is now Clinical Lead Nursing with Community Living Options (CLO), a respected NDIS provider, and has introduced high-intensity support training programs for staff and developed internal policies aligned with NDIS practice standards.
One of Meriya’s most impactful achievements has been establishing a dedicated Community Nursing Business Unit within CLO. As Clinical Lead, she has designed service pathways, training modules and evidence-based care practices that have benefitted more than 800 disability care support workers.
This training has empowered frontline disability care workers to confidently manage high-intensity support in such areas as diabetes, PEG feeding, complex bowel care and complex wound care. It has directly improved the lives of many people with disability but also reduced unnecessary hospital visits, easing pressure on our healthcare system.
“Having more people trained and confident in delivering these specialised services means that people with special needs can receive more services where they are in the community and not have to go to hospital for the simplest things that can be easily managed by support workers.”
Her role extends beyond clinical care: Meriya provides assessments that have unlocked essential NDIS funding for participants, including for incontinence management, wound care and diabetes oversight, enabling people with disability to live with dignity and independence.
Moving forward she has great ambition to expand the size and reach of the Community Nursing Business Unit, to obtain more resources and train more workers, but also to form more policies that will inform the entire disability care sector.
She also stays in touch with a team she worked with two years ago, responsible for establishing the improved efficient transition of vulnerable patients from hospital to home via the local health networks in South Australia.
“It’s the best way to free up hospital beds but still provide best care for people who have had extended hospital stays. For people who have nowhere to go in the community, this project provided a place where they can be supported for about 90 days, to ease them through that transition period while a permanent home for them through NDIS accommodation is found.”
While her workload seems intense, Meriya – who is also a mother – says she feels fortunate to be making a difference in her profession.
When Meriya first came to Australia in 2013 from Nepal, she had the words of her father ringing in her ears. “He drilled into me that if I was going to pursue higher studies, I had to get accepted into the very best university – and he had done research, hoping to pursue his own education dream, that said Flinders University was the best.
“He didn’t get to study here, but I feel I have been able to fulfill his long-held dream and aspiration. Both my parents are therefore so incredibly proud of what I’ve been able to achieve. I was actually quite nervous to take these steps, especially coming from another country, but everyone at Flinders was so encouraging and accommodating with everything, including my nursing placement in my final year, when I was pregnant. Their support for me made all the difference.
“Flinders laid the foundation for everything that I have achieved – giving me the knowledge, the values and the sense of empowerment to succeed.”
Meriya Poudel Baniya Chhetri has been awarded a 2025 Early Career Alumni Award for her significant contribution to improving disability services in the nursing profession through training and policy.