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Third-year nursing student Keita Tohu is on a mission to make healthcare feel safer for Māori. A HealthCarePlus Grant for Good is helping her get there.
For Keita Tohu, nursing is more than just a career path; it’s a personal mission to make a difference and help others. The 37-year-old Māori woman is in her third year of a Bachelor of Nursing (Māori) and is working towards becoming a registered nurse. Returning to study in her mid-thirties hasn’t been easy, but as she puts it, it’s been “one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve made”.
Based in Lower Hutt, Keita has already completed placements in the emergency department, paediatrics and mental health units of local hospitals, and this hands-on experience has helped shape the nurse she wants to become.
Long before she considered nursing, Keita was on the receiving end of a stretched health system. “My GP’s practice is overfull, so there’s not a lot of appointments available,” she says. She’s also seen how mistrust, often rooted in past experiences, can create inequities and communication barriers between Māori patients and the health system.
“Seeing the health inequities experienced by many Māori has inspired me to pursue nursing, so I can be part of creating positive change and supporting people through some of the most important moments in their lives,” Keita says. “I’m also caring for my niece right now and I’ve sadly lost three people close to me in the past few years, and that’s what made me decide to study and help educate Māori around the importance of their health.”
The commitment to advocacy and culturally safe care is exactly what the HealthCarePlus Grants for Good program was created to support. For Keita, the funding has eased the financial pressure of balancing study, placements and everyday life.
“It’s helped with essential costs related to my education, allowing me to focus on becoming the best nurse I can be,” she says.
“Receiving this grant is more than just financial support,” Keita says. “It’s a vote of confidence in my journey and a reminder that others believe in the difference I hope to make through nursing.”
Her goal for the coming year is to graduate as a registered nurse and provide high-quality, culturally safe care that will help close the gap in health inequities for whānau and the wider community.
For anyone weighing up whether to apply for their own grant under the Grants for Good program, Keita’s advice is to go for it. “Don’t let self-doubt stop you,” she says. “You are either your biggest barrier or your biggest fan.”
Keita is well on her way to being the latter – and Lower Hutt’s future patients, and her niece, will be better off for it.
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