Hospitals and Healthcare

A Whangārei nurse has received one of five $20,000 scholarships to help improve Māori healthcare outcomes.

Coral Waipo, a nurse who works with Māori, is one of five aspiring health sector workers who have been awarded a scholarship by New Zealand Health Group to help complete their study.

Other recipients are from Whakatāne, Ōpōtiki and Auckland.

Waipo said the scholarship provides the opportunity to complete her Master of Nursing next year, which will open pathways into further academic study and workforce development opportunities.

Low Covid vaccination rates among Māori reflect practical barriers – but they also have good reason to distrust the government

New nurse Kayla Hemara-Wahanui believes having Māori work in a Māori organisation is a given.

The WITT graduate is one of 42 nurses who walked straight into employment after completing the three-year bachelor’s degree at the end of last year.

The 100 per cent employment rate sees recent WITT nursing graduates in jobs across an array of sectors in the industry from medical, surgical, emergency, primary health care, mental health, elderly and intensive care and public health. 

Now working for iwi Ngati Ruanui in Hāwera, Kayla said having a Māori voice within the organisation has meant people are able to thrive.

Dr Jane Thomas to lead Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee from December.

Māori children with epilepsy are more likely to turn up at hospital emergency departments, more likely to have longer, more severe seizures, and suffer a higher mortality rate. Dr Ngaire Keenan wants to find out why.