Te Runanga offers leadership

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand,  August, 2008  by Ruby Eastick

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Ko Takitimu te waka; ko Maungaharuru te rnaunga; ko Te Ngarue te awa; ko Tutira te moana i roto; ko Tangitu te moana a waho; ko Ngati Tu (Ngati Kurumokihi) te hapu; ko Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa te iwi; ko Timoti Lawson raua ko Shirley Timu ooku matua; kei Paraparaumu matou e noho ana. Ko Ruby Eastick toku ingoa. Tena Koutou.

Kia ora. My name is Ruby Eastick and I am the whanau ora nurse at Hora Te Pai Health Services in Paraparaumu, on the Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington.

My interest in Te Runanga o Aotearoa NZNO began when I was a nursing student at Whitireia Community Polytechnic in Porirua in the late 1990s. I became the Tauira Aronui and National Student Unit representative and went on to become Tauira Aronui national vice chair.

After a few years' break, I am back again as the Te Runanga proxy for the Greater Wellington region.

For someone whose knowledge of tikanga was once very limited, I now feel very connected to my culture and my profession, thanks to my involvement with Te Runanga. I believe Te Runanga can offer leadership to Maori nursing students who want to succeed professionally.

It was a great honour to represent my employer on the negotiating team for the Maori and iwi primary health care multi-employer collective agreement--Te Rau Kokiri--from the pre-negotiations until recently.

Naku noa na, Ruby Eastick

COPYRIGHT 2008 New Zealand Nurses' Organisation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning