“These clinicians bring deep connections to the community, rich cultural knowledge, and a steadfast commitment to improving health outcomes for Pacific peoples” – Pauline Fuimaono Sanders, Acting National Director Pacific Health
The country’s health sector has seen an increase of Pacific health professionals join the workforce over the last month.
A record number of Pacific junior doctors have started work in hospitals across New Zealand this year. In total 55 Pacific are among the 531 graduates who will begin their first year of practice.
And in the Wellington region the next generation of Pacific midwives welcomed the arrival of three new graduates, which brings the total number of registered Pacific midwives to eight .
For the Pacific doctors alongside a strong cohort of Māori graduates, they are helping reshape the future of the country’s health workforce and represent the people they care for.
One of the new Pacific doctors shared his personal journey and the challenges he overcame to make it through to the end, where personal loss, career pivots, cultural rediscovery has led to a drive to address longstanding health inequities.
Dr Jerome Mika (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Samoa) is at Middlemore Hospital, close to the community where he grew up.
He says he was drawn to medicine through his parents’ deep commitment to service and helping others, but it was the loss of his 9-year-old brother while in his first year of medical school that has shaped his career.
“It was an incredibly difficult time for our whānau, and one that reshaped how I see both life and medicine.
“While we continue to grieve his loss, our whānau have tried to honour Josiah by turning our pain into purpose.”
Pauline Fuimaono Sanders, Acting National Director Pacific Health, says welcoming 55 new Pacific doctors into the workforce is a moment of tremendous pride for Pacific communities across Aotearoa.
“These clinicians bring deep connections to the community, rich cultural knowledge, and a steadfast commitment to improving health outcomes for Pacific peoples.”
The arrival of three new Pacific midwifery graduates, Isabella Remerswaal, Rachel Perese, and Charlotte Cunliffe brings the total number of registered Pacific midwives to eight in the region.
Penina Fitisemanu of Pasefika Midwifery Services Ueligitone, previously the sole Pacific LMC in Wellington Central, says this will make a significant difference to maternity care in the region.
“For many years, being the only Pasefika midwife in our region was very lonely,” says Fitisemanu.
“Having our numbers grow brings hope and joy. Eight registered midwives to cover the entire Wellington region may not seem like much to some, but for us, this is huge; it gives our communities a real choice in care.”
The growth extends into the educational pipeline as well. A record-breaking cohort of 12 first-year students has enrolled in the midwifery programmes at Otago Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington, taking the total number of Pacific midwifery students to 20.
“Representation is a cornerstone of safe and effective healthcare,” says Pauline Fuimaono Sanders, Pacific Workforce Lead at Health New Zealand.
