logo
On The Up: Inspiring Northland family achieve academic and professional success

On The Up: Inspiring Northland family achieve academic and professional success

NZ Herald22-04-2025
While Tina and Rory have also completed PhDs in their respective nursing and psychology fields, Harry gained a Bachelor of Education and Psychology at the University of Waikato and is now a teacher in Auckland.
Tina said she was 'very proud'.
'All Northlanders going through the local school system can do well if they have drive, willingness and perseverance,' she said.
'You can do well if you put your mind to it.
'You've got to have drive, you've got to be inspired to keep going.'
After her schooling, Tina did a degree in nursing and then trained at Whangārei Hospital.
At the age of 21, she travelled to England where she lived for 12 years, working mainly at Wembley Stadium, running medical services for big concerts such as Live Aid, and sporting events like soccer and boxing matches.
'There were 400 casualties in a day easy, there was never a dull moment.'
Tina also did her master's degree in the hospice setting and her PhD was completed in 2010 through AUT Auckland in the field of health and social services.
The Northland-based study looked at success factors for not-for-profit community organisations.
Tina credits her success to having a healthy self-belief.
'I just kept going,' she said.
'I thought 'I can do that'.
'You've got to make a decision to do it and stick to it.
'It proves how worthwhile it is in the end; my PhD has been useful to people, it's quite practical.'
Rory, 33, recently gained his PhD at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney, and Tina was there for his presentation ceremony held at Rosehill Gardens on April 2.
His PhD was in the field of positive psychology, exploring the relationship between objective and subjective measures of breathing and wellbeing.
Based in Sydney for over 10 years, he is a mental skills coach for athletes, including for the Sydney Marathon and St George District Cricket Club.
Rory is also a researcher and associate lecturer at the University of Wollongong where he teaches sports psychology.
'I grew up watching Mum doing her PhD on the sidelines of my cricket games at Kensington Park, when she was working fulltime as a nurse.
Advertise with NZME.
'She spent her time constructively chipping away at her research on the weekends and whenever she could.
'I saw what was possible if you persevere ... you can achieve what you want if you stick at it and back yourself.'
Harry, 36, was a teacher in Whangārei for 14 years – 11 years at Whangārei Boys' High School and three at Whangārei Intermediate School – before moving to Auckland last year.
Apart from his teaching degree, Harry holds an honours qualification in growth culture leadership.
He is now working as a specialist classroom teacher at Ormiston Junior College in East Auckland, in charge of coaching and training first and second-year teachers and overseas-trained teachers.
Harry is working towards becoming a deputy principal or principal 'in the near future'.
'It's been a good journey so far.
'It's not always easy, there are always hiccups and learnings and growth on the way.
'But it's building resilience and doing what you need to achieve your goals – and not letting anything get in the way.'
Tina, who is the manager of the Forget Me Not centre in Tikipunga, said her Phd outcomes included meeting the community need, overcoming funding insecurity, having a board, management and staff that work together for the good of the organisation, and never losing sight of the organisation's mission and purpose.
These outcomes had been integrated into the day-to-day work at Forget Me Not, a daycare service for adults of all ages who had disabilities, were elderly and frail, and those with memory loss and head injuries, she said.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Canterbury Mental Health Review Released
Canterbury Mental Health Review Released

Scoop

time4 hours ago

  • Scoop

Canterbury Mental Health Review Released

A formal regulatory inspection of Canterbury-based mental health services has set out a series of recommended changes for Health New Zealand and is continuing checks over the next 12 months. Ministry of Health Director of Mental Health Dr John Crawshaw, who undertook the inspection under Section 99 of the Mental Health Act, acknowledges the tragic circumstances prompting this work. He expressed his deep sympathy for the family mourning the loss of Laisa Waka Tunidau who was murdered by a patient on community leave from Christchurch's Hillmorton hospital in June 2022. The Ministry's inspection began the following month in July 2022. Sadly, there was a second tragic incident in 2024 involving a patient under the care of mental health services at Hillmorton – underscoring the urgency of addressing underlying issues facing the Canterbury service. Dr Crawshaw says the circumstances of both incidents were separately investigated by Health NZ and are not directly covered by the Ministry's report, which looked more deeply into the underlying issues related to governance, the care model, and resourcing. He says the report recognised the difficulties for mental health services brought by COVID-19 during the pandemic on top of a legacy of events in the region that have stretched mental health services and exacerbated existing systemic issues, and the findings of the review should be seen in that light. Dr Crawshaw says the goal of mental health services is to support, care for, and treat individuals affected by serious mental illness to keep both them and the community safe. Where there are serious service failures, such as in this instance, the legislation provides significant investigative powers to find causes, make recommendations and then monitor progress. The report makes 18 recommendations covering governance, the care model, and resourcing. The overall theme of the report is the need for better cooperation between service leadership and service delivery to prioritise service, enable staff to do their best, improve the models of care, and planning. 'There have already been significant improvements made by Health New Zealand in many areas.' Dr Crawshaw notes that the use of leave plans and leave protocols have been assessed and updated following an independent review. Safeguards now include a detailed leave procedure, an updated safety and risk assessment framework for leave, an amended missing person policy, and a review of the electronic clinical record system. As of next week, for patients under the Mental Health Act who are cared for in Hillmorton's forensic services (but are not special patients), all leave requests, which follow a very robust, carefully considered process, will also require final review by the Director of Mental Health. This arrangement will be in place while the report's recommendations are being implemented. Dr Crawshaw says Health New Zealand's work in quality improvement and progressing the report's recommendations will be carefully monitored over the next 12 months. He says this will help provide the public with a stronger degree of assurance that underlying issues are being addressed and progress continues to be made.

Heart Health Care System 'Verge Of Collapse' A Barometer Of Wider Public Hospital Verging
Heart Health Care System 'Verge Of Collapse' A Barometer Of Wider Public Hospital Verging

Scoop

time13 hours ago

  • Scoop

Heart Health Care System 'Verge Of Collapse' A Barometer Of Wider Public Hospital Verging

It has been said more than once that overcrowding in emergency departments is a barometer of how public hospitals as a whole are performing in Aotearoa New Zealand's health system. It has now emerged that another barometer is the rate of heart attack patients being treated within clinically accepted timeframes. According to a new Otago University report, Heart disease in Aotearoa: morbidity, mortality and service delivery, commissioned by cardiac advocacy charity Kia Manawanui Trust (the Trust), the rate of these patients not being treated within clinically appropriate timeframes is a massive one-half. While dramatic, this is not as surprising as one might think. New Zealand has just one-third the number of cardiologists it needs. It has led to the regrettably correct conclusion that the heart healthcare system is verging on collapse. Health journalists doing their job This scandal was well reported on 11 August by Radio New Zealand's health reporter Ruth Hill: Half of heart attack patients not treated within accepted timeframes. She quotes the Trust's Chief Executive Letitia Harding in a dramatic, but not overstating, manner observing that the findings exposed a system that was failing at every level. In her words: Heart care in New Zealand isn't just stretched – it's on the verge of collapse. We are failing in all aspects and it's costing New Zealanders their lives. TVNZ gave the report prominent coverage on 1News (11 August): Verge of collapse. Stuff journalist Nicholas Jones, like Ruth Hill, on the same day also gave a good outline of the report's findings: People are dying. Key Findings The reports key findings include: Life-threatening delays: Half of all heart-attack patients are not seen within internationally accepted timeframes. New Zealand has only a third of the cardiologists it should have. Māori and Pacific people hospitalised or die from heart disease more than a decade earlier, on average, than other New Zealanders. Heart disease costs the country's health system and economy $13.8 billion per year ($13 million in 2020). The biggest contributor is hospitalisations but also contributing are lost workdays, GP visits, prescriptions and mortality. [These are minimum costs as some other factors such as emergency department admission costs were not included in this analysis.] Regions with the highest death rates are Tairāwhitii, Lakes (Rotorua-Taupo), Whanganui, and Taranaki. They have the fewest cardiac specialists. Dr Sarah Fairley is a Wellington-based cardiologist. She is also the Trust's medical director. Her conclusion was that the findings by the Otago University study matched the experience of health professionals on the cardiac frontline. Cardiac workforce reality check Sometimes non-government organisations can be overly gentle and deferential in describing bad news such as this. However, the Trust does not pull its punches over the report's findings. It calls a spade a spade. This in the context of heart disease being the greatest cause of mortalities in New Zealand. It was responsible for one in five deaths and 5% of hospital admissions. The Trust is calling for immediate investment in public hospital cardiac care infrastructure – beds and equipment – and a national strategy to recruit and retain cardiology staff. This goes to the root of the 'verging collapse'. Drilling down further, in 2024 New Zealand had 173.2 full-time cardiologists (32.8 per million people). This is three times lower than the average (95 specialists per million) of all countries measured by the European Society of Cardiology. Contrasting the figures 32.8 and 95.0 speaks volumes. However, the cardiac workforce is not just medical specialists. The number of sonographers had dropped from 70.4 in 2013 to just 43.5 in 2024, despite the 17% population increase. Their ratio had nearly halved from 16 per million to 8.2 over the same period of time. Political reaction Health Minister Simeon Brown in response gave some acknowledgement to the report but passed the buck to Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) as if its political leadership were not responsible in some way. He referred to it establishing a National Clinical Cardiac Network which is developing national standards and models of care. In fact, this network was established well over a decade ago when Tony Ryall was health minister (2008-14). The network did good innovative and collaborative work. But the vertical centralisation of the health system under Labour's Andrew Little meant that the network was brought under direct bureaucratic control thereby giving it less oxygen for its independent advice. A further dimension: clinical follow-ups Understandably the impression can be formed that the critical threshold for treatment is to have a first specialist assessment (FSA). In this context this is the assessment by a cardiologist of a patient's heart condition following a general practitioner referral for further investigation. Where, for whatever reason, treatment such as surgery was not consequentially scheduled after the FSA (including because further monitoring was considered more appropriate) a clinical follow-up would normally be scheduled within a clinically appropriate timeframe. In the mid to late 2010s, towards the end of my employment as Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, I became aware of increasingly serious concerns of a range of medical specialists (not just cardiac) that these clinical follow-ups were being severely delayed As a result, their patients (including children) were facing increased health risks. This includes denial through excessive delay of access to treatment that might have improved these conditions. This was regardless of location – rural, regional or urban. Consequently, the powerful message given by Northland cardiologist and Trust Board member Dr Marcus Lee on Radio New Zealand's Midday Report (11 August) in an interview with Charlotte Cook, resonated strongly with me: Delayed clinical follow-ups. After pushing back on Minister Brown's use of statistics, Dr Lee referred to the downside negative effects on clinical follow-ups after patients' FSAs. The cause of these clinically unsafe delays is the sheer volume of FSAs which had to take priority. Coupled with severe workforce shortages, these patients were trapped in a vice. Consequently, for many, their health conditions worsened to the extent that those who might otherwise have been able to be treated could not be. In other words, they were denied access to necessary diagnosis and treatment. Moral injury Dr Lee also raised the issue of moral injury. In the context of healthcare it refers to the psychological, social and spiritual impact of events on health professionals who overwhelming hold strong ethical values over, for example, denial of timely access of patients to diagnosis and treatment. This includes when events are determined by factors beyond their control, particularly political (especially) and bureaucratic decision-making. In the context of Dr Lee's reference to moral injury it is the cardiologist that has to explain this situation to patients and families of the harm done by delayed diagnostic or treatment access even though it was not caused by him or his colleagues. Although responsibility rests with political and bureaucratic decision-makers they are not the ones who have to explain it to harmed patients and their families. Dr Lee made the point well that one consequence is the undermining of patient trust in him and his colleagues. The heart healthcare barometer and a 'wake up' call A standout observation by the above-mentioned cardiologist Dr Sarah Fairley really struck home with me. In her words: From inside the system, I can tell you that this report reflects what we see every day – a workforce stretched beyond safe limits, patients slipping through the cracks and no end in sight. While this comment was made in the context of the heart healthcare system, it also reads as a standalone comment for the whole public health system, regardless of branch of medicine or type of diagnosis and treatment. The verging collapse of the cardiac care system is a barometer of the public hospital system as a whole. Public hospitals across the health system are in all in this dire situation with differences being in degree, not kind. One only needs to read the latest travesty involving adult inpatient and related mental health services in Canterbury due to ineffective governance, understaffing and cumulative strain for a decade. This disaster was covered by Nadine Roberts in Stuff (12 August): Damming mental health report. Christopher Luxon's government can't be blamed for Aotearoa's deteriorating health system. While it has worsened under his watch, it is an inherited state of affairs. It goes back to the relative underfunding ('light austerity') of the National led government for much of the 2010s and the poor compounding health system stewardship of under the previous Labour led government whose solution was destructive restructuring through vertical centralisation. What characterised all three of these governments is their shared neglect of the severe medical specialist shortages that first became evident in the late 2000s. The last word should be left to the Trust's Chief Executive Letitia Harding. She said that the report should be 'a wake-up call for the government'. She nailed it in one. But it is equally a wake-up call for the government for the whole health system.

Fundraising Drive On For Lifesaving Medical Equipment
Fundraising Drive On For Lifesaving Medical Equipment

Scoop

time2 days ago

  • Scoop

Fundraising Drive On For Lifesaving Medical Equipment

Funds are being sought for medical equipment that can be the difference between life and death in Northland and Auckland. Northern Rescue is fundraising for ventilators and video laryngoscopes to be fitted in its fleet of rescue helicopters across Te Taitokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau. Six Hamilton T1 Ventilators valued at $53,000 each and ten video laryngoscopes worth $60,000 in total are needed. Two ventilators have so far been sponsored, however, funding is needed for the final four. In addition, five video laryngoscopes are needed at each of Northern Rescue's Auckland and Northland operations to be used in the organisation's rescue helicopters, Rapid Response Vehicles, the Whangārei ambulance and training rooms. Ross Aitken, Auckland-based Clinical Operations Manager and Critical Care Paramedic at Northern Rescue, says the video laryngoscopes have been in use for five years and like the ventilators, are nearing end of life. 'The video laryngoscopes are well used and it is important that our crews have reliable equipment to ensure that we are providing safe optimal care to the people of the Northern Region,' says Aitken. Video laryngoscopes are used in placing endotracheal tubes in patients who require assistance to manage their airway and ventilation. 'Northern Region has been using video laryngoscopy in the prehospital setting for a decade. During this time video laryngoscopy has become the standard of care when delivering prehospital anesthesia. 'These video laryngoscopes are then used in conjunction with ventilators, which are what allow our clinical teams to provided critical care to our sickest patients in the Northern Region,' says Aikten. Northern Rescue Helicopter Limited (NRHL) has already received a major boost to its life-saving operations thanks to generous donations from the Four Winds Foundation and Trillian Trust, each funding one Hamilton T1 ventilator. Fonterra has kindly made donation to help cover the cost of brackets needed to mount the ventilators. Paul Davis, Critical Care Paramedic and Deputy Clinical Operations Manager in Whangārei, says the current fleet of ventilators are also nearing the end of their operational life after nearly eight years of service and having supported hundreds of critically ill and injured patients. 'The fact is, as patient numbers and complexity increases, especially during interhospital transfers which is a substantial part of our workload, we need more advanced technology that the more modern ventilators provide. Advanced devices like the Hamilton T1 are essential for these high-acuity missions as they are designed for in-hospital and prehospital environments. That enables the delivery of ICU-level ventilator strategies in-flight, with improved battery performance, oxygen efficiency, and a user-friendly interface that enhances clinical safety. Patients requiring mechanical ventilation are among the most critically unwell ranging from those in respiratory failure due to chronic illness, to trauma patients with multiple severe injuries including head trauma. Davis says the ventilators enable our clinicians to stabilise patients and transport them safely and expediently to definitive care centres, with the mechanical ventilators used by NRHL clinicians hundreds of times a year (two to three times per week on average) Aitken and Davis say they are essential in minimising secondary complications during transport, which can arise from the progression of a patient's underlying condition.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store