The principal of Tamaki College in Auckland and board director of Pasifika Futures Ltd, Mrs Soana Pamaka, is sending out a positive message to her students and wider community during the recent Covid-19 resurgence – “Keep calm and don’t panic.”

A Pasifika health boss in New Zealand is stressing the importance of mobilising medical and other resources to help equip Pacific communities and providers within those communities in case of a Covid-19 outbreak.

A senior Pacific public health specialist says the call for Auckland to return to Level 3 and the rest of the county to Level 2 is essential to control the Covid-19 resurgence, especially for the Pacific community as they are the most vulnerable.

Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) have taken positive learnings from working under Covid-19 conditions and have implemented them in a new staff support package which is already being practiced and embraced within the organisation. The support package give staff increased health and financial benefits and options for a flexible working week.

Twenty-six-year-old junior doctor Supilate Mikaele is looking forward to attending the Pasifika Health Leaders Breakfast Webinar Series, to learn more about the industry and hear from fellow Tongan health professional Dr Lupe Taumoepeau FRACS, New Zealand’s only female vascular surgeon.

Dr Lupe Taumoepeau FRACS, New Zealand’s only female vascular surgeon, will be the first guest speaker at the Pasifika Health Leaders Breakfast Webinar Series, an event established to help Pacific medical students decide which area of medicine to specialise in after their studies.

Etu Pasifika, the largest health provider for Pacific families in Canterbury, is celebrating the milestone of a Cornerstone accreditation – a prestigious standard of excellence in which recipients have shown exemplary high standards for general medical practice in New Zealand.

Stormy weather and pouring rain did not stop the dedicated Etu Pasifika team from providing free flu vaccinations in a drive-thru clinic for Pasifika families living in the Canterbury area.

Almost a third of the country’s workforce operated from home during Alert Level 4 and now in Alert Level 1, many organisations are reviewing the long-term benefits of flexible and remote working environments for the health of their workers, says a leading Pacific physiotherapist.

A pharmaceutical rule change during Covid-19 restricting the dispensing of funded community medicine to one month’s supply at a time, has been embraced by the Pacific community, says a senior pharmacist.

Nursing director and member of the Pasifika Medical Association Membership Board, Abel Smith says the Covid-19 crisis has brought out the best in Pacific nurses and helped them develop further knowledge of how to care for their community.

Samoan GP and PMA member Dr Maryann Heather says not much has changed for patients since the move to Level 1, as people and medical clinics continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19.