Our Nursing Staff

Darci joined our practice back in 2022 as a student veterinary nurse and now after graduating with a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology from the University of Queensland has joined our team as a fully-fledged veterinary nurse.

We keep Darci very busy as part of our nurse rotation, moving between surgery tasks, hospital tasks and working as a float nurse. Darci’s typical day is jam-packed as she seamlessly transitions from assisting our veterinarians to caring for our patients.

You’ll find Darci busily admitting patients for surgery, preparing instruments, dispensing medication, caring for our hospital patients and discharging patients when they are ready to go home.  Darci also conducts nurse consultations such as providing dental health checks, pre-surgery checks, and every now and again turns her many skills to our reception desk too.

With all that variety, it’s difficult to choose a favourite area of work, but for Darci it’s the autonomy and trust given to her by our veterinarians on the days she works on surgery rotation.

Darci also can’t choose between cats and dogs as her favourite and finds it a bit like comparing apples to oranges. She does find that cats are a little misunderstood sometimes. They can’t fool her though as she can see through their tough personas to the sweetness underneath.

No doubt that’s in part due to her own two cats at home Poe and Tato, a rag doll X and domestic shorthair.

When not in our clinic you’ll find Darci with her nose in a book, with mysteries being her novel of choice. She’s also a Swifty and travelled all the way to Sydney to see her favourite artist perform live (and yes, it lived up to the hype).

Brittany hit the ground running when she joined our practice in early 2023. Qualified as a Certificate IV Vet Nurse, she brings with her eight years’ experience working in busy vet clinics. A quick thinker, who likes to go above and beyond, Brittany is thriving in our clinic, offering exceptional care and expertise to our patients and their owners.

Brittany particularly enjoys the wide range of cases we see at Daisy Hill Vet and is able to easily manage our busy days with patience, efficiency and care. She enjoys caring for and monitoring our hospital patients, taking great pleasure and pride in seeing them back to full health after illness or injury.

Originally hailing from Sydney, Brittany moved back and forth between Queensland and New South Wales a couple of times before finally settling in the local area. Now firmly entrenched in the local community, Brittany is pleased to call Queensland home. Prior to becoming a vet nurse, Brittany’s first role was working at a petting zoo, proving her mettle by working with both children and animals, a challenging combination we’re sure! Thankfully, Brittany’s love for animals won out, and a successful career as a vet nurse has followed.

Animals dominate Brittany’s life outside of work too, as she volunteers her time to work with foster dogs and private rescues. Brittany immensely enjoys her volunteer work and the difference she can make to the animals she helps to rehome. In her own home she has two domestic shorthair cats Lana and Calvin, and one dog, Toby, a Huskie X American Staffie. Brittany can also be found chasing the round ball on the weekends, playing soccer for her local club.

Maddie has been a breath of fresh air since her arrival at Daisy Hill Vet at the end of 2022. Maddie’s enthusiasm and drive as a young vet nurse is backed up by her Certificate IV qualification. Her affable nature and an aptitude for her work have already made her a valuable addition to the team.

Maddie works alongside our vets in all aspects of our practice, but particularly enjoys working with our hospital patients, caring for them during their treatment and recovery. In her short career so far, Maddie has already been exposed to a wide variety of cases, treating patients with skill, care and composure. Her empathetic nature and extensive experience with animals at home helps her offer advice, reassurance and support to owners.

Working with animals was in Maddie’s future from a very young age. Caring for and riding her family’s horses as a child, Maddie quickly realised that horses often hurt themselves, requiring significant care and attention. After observing many vet visits to tend to her family’s horses, Maddie undertook work experience at a vet clinic in grade 10, sealing her fate as a future vet nurse.

Maddie has a formidable line-up of animals at home including five horses, former racehorse Jake, competition horse Ella, sassy pony Molly, older statesman Buddy and Shetland pony Friday. The horses are joined by two cats, Harley and Milo and the latest addition, a six month old German Shepherd puppy called Winnie.

In her spare time, Maddie can be found with Jake and Ella, competing in show jumping and venting competitions, or spending time with her family.

Jess has experience in the care of a wide variety of species ranging from pelicans to turtles having spent 6 years working as a birds and exotics veterinary nurse. She brings a wealth of practical experience in medical nursing of wildlife, whether feathered, furred or scaled.

Jess’s practical experience is exceptional, having acquired amazing animal handling skills, with over 10 years hands-on veterinary nursing as well as studying for her TAFE Certificates III and IV in Veterinary Nursing.

Aside from her practical experience, Jess has an interest in animal behaviour of multiple species, with extra knowledge in the field of environmental enrichment and maximising the human-animal bond with pet ownership. Jess works alongside our vets in the area of behaviour, offering owner education in the areas such as separation anxiety and noise phobia in dogs and feather picking in birds. She has experience working with dogs with these serious behavioural problems and can certainly empathise with owners, striving to help them whenever she can.

Her years of nursing experience make her a brilliant surgical nurse and her attention to detail enable her to monitor patients undergoing anaesthesia with the highest level of care. Jess is a reassuring presence for pet owners and really loves being part of such a well-trained team at Daisy Hill Vet.

Jess has a menagerie at home, including ‘Harriet’, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, guinea pigs, birds including budgies, finches and canaries as keeping and breeding freshwater tropical fish. A true animal lover, Jess is in her dream job as a veterinary nurse, promoting responsible pet ownership whenever she can.

Jess is a weekend market goer, purchasing fresh produce direct from farmers and lives very much the outdoor lifestyle. Her residence backs onto a wildlife corridor where she regularly enjoys the Daisy Hill Forest walking tracks.

We first met veterinary nurse Belle when she joined our team for a work experience placement. We loved her so much we offered her a job!

As Dux of her graduating year at the University of Queensland, Belle brings a very capable set of skills to our practice, and we happily share these skills with the Animal Emergency Service, where she also works part time as an emergency nurse.

Always calm under pressure, in part thanks to the experience she has gained working in emergency, Belle thrives on the diversity of her role here at our practice. She enjoys everything from assisting in surgery and monitoring patients under anaesthesia, through to trimming nails and checking teeth.

Of the three rotation shifts our nurses undertake each week (surgery, float and hospital), Belle enjoys the float shift the most as it is jam-packed with a large variety of tasks to keep her on her toes.

With two dogs at home – golden retriever poodle Molly, and Maltese fox terrier Zoe, Belle is definitely a dog person, but when it comes to her patients, she loves them all equally.

A self-confessed ‘gym junkie’, Belle can often be found lifting weights or enjoying Pilates and yoga at her local gym. If she’s not there, she’ll most likely have her nose in a fantasy novel, or be flicking through Netflix looking for a series to binge watch.

Belle loves working with our friendly and supportive team, which we’re very glad to hear as we love working with her too!

Nikola joined the Daisy Hill Veterinary Clinic team in September 2020 after pursuing her veterinary nursing training through the Animal Industry Resource Centre (AIRC). Since then, she has completed 18 months clinical experience in veterinary practice and has a passion for surgical and emergency veterinary nursing.

Nikola’s affinity with animals developed as a 6-year-old when she regularly enjoyed visits to a family friend’s farm. Nikola’s love for animals continued to grow as she was drawn to the country-side, volunteering on various farms while growing up. She followed her dream to pursue a career working with animals and is thrilled to be now working at Daisy Hill Vet, a team she describes as genuinely kind, where the patients and clients always come first.

Particular veterinary nursing memories in her career so far that stand out include; saving a pygmy goat that was attacked by a dog, as well as assisting with surgery on a dog who had eaten a bone covered in gladwrap which had lodged in the small intestine. Nikola loves the exciting nature of the veterinary work.

Nikola’s outside interests include training at least 3 times per week for the Women’s Premier League Soccer team, as well as competing in mixed basketball and rugby tournaments. No doubt her endurance training for the sports she excels in will compliment the fast-paced nature of veterinary practice.

Nikola absolutely loves the beach and this is where you will find her, often with her 3 dogs ‘Buddy’, the Tibetan Mastiff cross German Shepherd, ‘Jager’ a long-haired German Shepherd and ‘Kaiser’, a short-haired German Shepherd. As you can see, Nikola has a particular love for German Shepherds! In addition to her dogs, Nikola also keeps her two pet Belted Galloway steers that she hand-reared called ‘Angus’ and ‘Wilbur’ on the 30-acre property in Mount Cotton where she lives, as well as chickens and geese.

Nikola’s ability to keep a positive morale in the clinic and aiming to assist other staff members wherever she can make her an extremely valued member of the team and we welcome her whole-heartedly.

The Daisy Hill Vet team are excited to welcome Sheryl to our team as our resident puppy preschool trainer. Sheryl joins the team with a wealth of training experience having been the Head Puppy Instructor at a Logan dog obedience club for the past 2 years.

Sheryl loves to teach puppy parents how to use positive training techniques to encourage their puppy to become a confident, happy and stable companion, as well as an important member of their family.

Sheryl was born in New Zealand, but grew up in the local Logan area and has owned pets all her life, including horses, dogs, cats and budgies. In addition to her knowledge with puppies, Sheryl is skilled in being a strong leader for large breed boisterous dogs and assisting their development, through her own fostering experience. She also creates environmental enrichment strategies for dogs because, in Sheryl’s words, “Give your dog a job or they become self-employed leading to all sorts of trouble!”

Sheryl has completed a lot of additional study in dog training, having completed a Certificate in Dog Psychology and training and is looking forward to attending the annual Aggression in Dogs Conference.

Sheryl is thrilled to have joined the a dynamic team at Daisy Hill Vet and is delighted to be taking the Puppy Preschool Classes, which will enable her to share her knowledge with the local community to give puppies the best start in life.

Described by her peers as patient yet energetic, in her spare time, Sheryl loves mountain-biking, trail-running and indoor rock climbing and has recently started learning to play the cello. Sheryl has two dogs acquired from Big Paws Dog Rescue, Cruz, a Mastiff cross who weighs over 60kg, and Penny, a Bull Arab cross.