Case Studies

Beverly is a qualified midwife and currently works as a Breast Feeding Coordinator for Kahungunu Health Services and Totara Health in the Hastings region. She graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in 2009. She hails from Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu, and Scottish/Italian background.

France works as a public health nurse for Northland District Health Board, and graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in June 2012. France’s formal school years were spent on her father’s home built trimaran, destined for the French coast. However, at the age of 14 France jumped ships and sailed back to New Zealand on another boat. At 18 she went back to school as an adult student.

France started her career as a community nurse in the late 70s. Over time she completed a nursing diploma and a Bachelor of Health Science in nursing – while also raising four children. She spent 15 years working in emergency departments, in New Zealand and overseas. Wanting to work in a more preventative role, she changed to the area of public health in 2010.

Katarina is a Community Clinical Nurse who specialises in long term conditions. She works for Central PHO in Palmerston North, and graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in November 2012. Katarina has spent the last 12-13 years working in a range of locations such as Mangere, Ruatahuna, and Brisbane. She has held various nursing roles including rural, prison, community (school, practice and public health), and Kaupapa Māori.

Maria is a Clinical Midwife/Lactation Specialist at Wellington Hospital and graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in June 2011. She began practicing as a midwife in 1976. However in 1979, she relocated to Australia where her New Zealand midwifery qualifications were not recognised. Always up for a challenge, Maria retrained as a chef and went on to convert an old Dodge library truck to a kitchen one. She spent the next 20+ years catering for film crews in the Australian outback.

Her catering business entailed long hours and a lot of heavy lifting. As a sole parent, it was getting hard so she completed post graduate study in midwifery, and prompted by her eldest brother’s passing away, she moved back to New Zealand in 2007. She initially worked as Lead Maternity Carer in Pomare, Lower Hutt – a low socio economic area with high Māori and Pacific population. When made redundant in 2010, she successfully applied for her current role.

Rangi has spent 9 years nursing, in both community and tertiary settings, and graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in November 2011. She currently works for Waikato DHB as a registered nurse where she also holds a mentoring and preceptor role. At the time that she did the course, she worked for a Māori health care provider. Rangi hails from the Raglan/Kawhia area and whakapapa to Waikato Tainui.

Sonya graduated from Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō in November 2011. She has over 20 years’ experience of nursing and has a special interest in rural settings. Over this period, she has had intermittent time off to raise three children.

Sonya currently works for Hawkes Bay DHB as a Nursing Director (Māori Health) and Nurse Advisor. It is a complex role in which she functions as a conduit between executives and nurses, undertakes project management, oversees change management processes, and provides policy advice and nursing support with a Māori lens. She works within an integrated service delivery approach, and liaises with NGOs to help them connect with DHB supports that already exist.
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Sonya is Wairoa born and bred. Her mother is Māori, Ngāti Rākaipaaka Rongomaiwahine and father Pākehā.