Being a Tongan male, I am aware of the barriers Pacific men face when seeking help and I want to play my part in removing some. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained through my training and life to better the health outcomes of patients, their family and wider community.
1. What is your role as a Pacific Nurse / Midwife
I am a Mana Kidz nurse who works in the community. Mana kidz is a nurse led school based programme providing comprehensive healthcare including rheumatic fever prevention services, skin infection treatment and management and health assessments.
Otara Community Based Assessment Centre My recent experience as the Operations Lead at the Otara Community Based Assessment Centre (CBAC) located at South Seas Healthcare was one of the highlights of my nursing career and one that will definitely be part of history. The introduction of Covid 19 was a new concept that has made,
Media Release 30 June 2020 – 12pm First Pacific owned research group to be fully funded by HRC explores mental health of Pacific mothers and fathers The Health Research Council has awarded Dr Seini Taufa of Moana Research – an independent research organisation owned by six Pacific researchers – a ($600K) Pacific Project Grant to
1) What is your role as a Pacific Nurse? My current role is the Nursing Director at Alliance Health Plus Trust (AH+). AH+ is one of the seven Primary Healthcare Organisations in the metro Auckland region. My role combines areas of operational, strategic and governance at a local, district, regional and national level. In the
Malō e lelei, my name is Latai and I’m nine years old. I am Tongan and I go to St Anne’s Catholic School in Manurewa. This is my story of what Lockdown was like for me.
I am an only child and I have two bubbles. I stay with my mum on school days and I go to my dad’s house on weekends and holidays. I wasn’t sure what to expect during this Lockdown but I was looking forward to spending time at home with my mum and my baby cousin.
A group of academics caused some controversy when they proposed a Covid 19 Plan B to the current lockdown approach. I have much respect for these academics who have extensive knowledge and expertise in their field of work, notably not in the field of infectious diseases. In their rather mild defence, the science they reference has some merit, but was devoid of important context.
Akaue’anga (Duty of Care) – Every Turanga, Pirianga has Akaue’anga. This is the acknowledgement and fulfilment of individual and collective duties. This is a “Duty of Care” that is tied to each role we have. As a son, my brothers turanga means he often checks up on my parents, making sure they’re watching what they eat or exercising in the bubble and in return they ask him how his day has been especially after a shift as an essential worker.
It’s day seven of lock down in New Zealand and after the rush of last week’s announcements and the pace in which everything has happened, I’m still trying to make sense of what it means to be in lockdown and why, even with everything that I know – I still feel a bit anxious.
Well, as we do our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19, I’m reminded that it’s usually during times of disasters or public health outbreaks, we see how systems that were created with the intention to provide efficiency can instead create unintended inefficiencies.
