‘A tree with many leaves of opportunity’ for Maaori in health

ABOVE: Fraser High students at Waikato Hospital.

From the Momentum Waikato Annual Report 2024 - see full report in PDF.

Te Rau Oranga Fund was established at Momentum Waikato in July 2023 by Waikato Hospital doctors Ruth Tan (Ngaati Hangarau and Ngaati Mutunga) and Stephen Ng, with the assistance of family members, colleagues, the Braemar Charitable Trust, and the Waikato Eye Foundation.

Their goal is to improve health outcomes for Maaori by increasing the numbers of Maaori working in the health system. The Fund is a means for them to provide inspiration and open doors for teenaged Maaori students through scholarships, career promotion and mentoring, initially at Te Kura Tuarua o Taniwharau-Fraser High School in Hamilton, which Ruth attended.

“Te Rau Ora has a few meanings, ’ora’ is ‘health and wellness’, ‘rau’ can be ‘many’ or ‘leaf’,” said Ruth.

“The title has been gifted to us by Matua Paora, a long-serving kaiako at Fraser, who said it to mean both ‘health for the many’ and ‘a tree with many leaves of opportunity’.

“You don’t see many Maaori in the workforce here at the Hospital, we are few and far between, and that is a barrier.

“We want to provide students with a ‘visual aid’ of what they can become, that they can choose a health career if they want to, to know it’s an achievable goal.”

Ruth has visited Fraser High multiple times with other health care professionals to talk to and inspire the rangatahi with different health career pathways.

Their other activities since the Fund launched have included student group activities such as attending the annual Pūhoro STEMM Academy Wānanga at the University, the Braemar Hospital Open Day, where among things they joined in on laparoscopic surgery on a capsicum, and a “well received” interactive bonesaw workshop. They have also hosted two students to watch a knee surgery and placed two other students into holiday jobs at The Hamilton Eye Clinic.

At the end of 2023 Te Rau Oranga Fund awarded $10,000 of scholarships to nine students, to provide core learning needs so they stay in school and pursue their healthcare ambitions.

ABOVE: Ruth Tan aims to break down barriers.

Ruth’s own story shows them what is possible.

“I was born and raised here in Kirikiriroa, the youngest of five children, we’re Maaori-Chinese-Pākehā. My parents had a Chinese Takeaways, then closed it and went to work for the church,” said Ruth.

“We had a roof over our head but nothing much extra. I loved school, it was sport that kept me there, which led me to train and work in physiotherapy, and it was from there that I moved into medicine.

“I never had a role model for a health career at high school, never had that opportunity put in front of me, and for all the professions I thought I wasn’t good enough, they wouldn’t accept me, didn’t see people that looked and talked like me going there.

“I want to remove those barriers that I faced, I’m happy to stand up and be seen, so the students and everyone can have positive interactions with a health professional and see what they can do too.

“Te Rau Oranga Fund is intended to be a ‘by Maaori, for Maaori’ initiative. Our scholarships and outreach will provide opportunities for students who may not otherwise have had them and empower them to choose any career in the health sector,” said Ruth.

Stephen said while Ruth’s experience is inspiring, “most of all, she is inspiring”.

“The most powerful thing about Te Rau Oranga Fund is that it is driven by someone prepared to go out and tell her story, to show she was able to do it, and is thinking strategically about community healthcare.”

“I want to express our thanks to Momentum Waikato for helping us to realise this project,” said Stephen.

“It can be very daunting when you have an idea and don’t know how to set up a fund such as this, so having Momentum’s resources and advice has been invaluable.”

You can donate to Te Rau Oranga Fund at momentumwaikato.nz/terauorangafund.