Pacific Health Wayfinders work with Pacific students and Schools to spark interest in Health Careers

Pacific Health Wayfinders works with Pacific students and schools to spark interest in health careers and support entry into the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. They provide guidance on subjects, applications, workshops and financial support to smooth the path to University. Our goal is to grow Pacific representation in the health workforce including future doctors, nurses, researchers and policy makers.  

The Year 11 Va'a Experience gives students the opportunity to participate in a hands-on, on-campus experience introducing students to health and science pathways through interactive sessions, study skills and engagement with University of Auckland staff and students. 

Four workshops were offered. Medicine, Wonders of the human body, The Human Anatomy Museum and Optometry and the Vision bus. 

Students involved were Jamal Barton, Isha Baynosa, Kiara Gill, Miri Hatalafale, Evotia Iakina, Seliaga Iakina, Presley Stone-Michaels, Zora Tiedemann and Cha’ris Tolova’a.

I enjoyed the experience of the trip and the chance to expand my knowledge of the opportunities for jobs. My favourite session was the Optometry part. (This was the eye one). I enjoyed learning how they would check our eyes and how the eyes are mostly key signs of an illness e.g. diabetes. During the Optometry session, we were able to experience how people with certain eye conditions see the world.  For example, people who are unable to see things far away (Myopia) have concave single glasses. These glasses help refocus light on the retina and sharpen distant vision. -  Zora Tiedemann 11MSE 

Today I participated in the Year 11 Va’a Experience. This took place in the Health and Medical University Of Auckland. In this session the chosen Pasifika Year 11 students of Rutherford and I were introduced to the world full of Health and Sciences the University of Auckland has to offer. This included hands-on experiences in human anatomy, optometry, and more. The students and I had the opportunity to test out how doing physical activity affects the speed of the heart, how the electrical signals our brains send to our muscles to work, ‘tricking our brains’ and lots more. We also met many new people from other schools that are in similar situations as myself and it was encouraging to see how many people were different to me. This built many new friendships during this time extending my motivation to continue on with the medical pathway all the way to University. Overall, this experience was not only an encouragement to go into medical practice in the future but also an opportunity to learn new things and meet new people - Miri Hatalafale 11RHS 

My experience in the University of Auckland was an experience that motivated me to follow a footpath through health related studies. As a high school student, I felt unmotivated and lost about which career I wanted to pursue, but after getting involved in my trip to the University of Auckland I got to experience great things. It helped me get motivated to assist sick people and want to make discoveries in the near future of medicines. It was also such a good experience as I got to meet lots of people who wanted to pursue the same interest as myself. University of Auckland is a really inspiring University where many students can discover things they want to do as the University of Auckland suggests many more careers that can pursue a brighter future for people who choose the pathway of health related studies. Through University of Auckland I learnt about Medicine and how the heart pumps blood through the body, which made me understand the process of how medicine can help the heart pump blood to the tissue and organs of the human body. - Evotia Iakina 11RMC 

The Va'a experience was a really great experience, it was really interesting, especially how I got to learn the body muscles and how it works. Many of the things caught my eyes but I was more interested in the human body part event. It was really interesting and fun, because it caught my attention more than all of the other activities. I have decided to learn some more about it. I learnt that when we try to touch our nose with our eyes closed, the human body can’t send messages,and we find it a little bit hard to reach our nose, but our brains can process and tell us the way. Also I learnt some interesting things in the museum, like how things look when people have diseases and also people who have been shot through the heart, how it looked after it was shot. It looked really painful because some of the victims were young people and some were really old people, but it was really good to learn and see what it looked like after it happened. - Seliaga Iakina 11HTTP 

The Va'a Experience led by the Pacific Health Wayfinders (PHW) was extremely informative about potential health and medical science careers. I found the activities very interesting, and the organisers really helped with my journey on figuring out what careers may be best for me. The environment was friendly and encouraging, involving our Pasifika connection with the activities. My favourite part of UoA’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Science was their human anatomy museum. Inside they had many models of the human skeleton, the brain, and different body parts. - Kiara Gill 11MFI 

I really enjoyed my time at The Va’a Experience, led and directed by the Pacific Health Wayfinders (PHW) as it was very informative and helped me to expand my decisions on what I want to potentially do in the future. Although I may not decide on pursuing an occupation or study revolving around health and medical science, I will still be applying what I learnt from their valuable lessons in the coming future. From the study advice and methods that were taught to us to enhance our remembrance of information outside of the classroom, to the knowledge shared with us about how our bodies function. I was able to connect freely with other students from other schools that attended the programme, such as Marist College, Southern Cross Campus and just a few more. Overall, the environment was very welcoming and friendly, making it easy for me to settle in and feel comfortable once split up into a different group from my other friends. Finally, my favourite part of the entire experience had to be the rotation of different activities that revolved around the human body. - Cha’ris Tolova’a. 11MSE 

I had the opportunity to go to the Va’a experience at the University of Auckland for Pacifica to learn about Health and Medicine. We were provided valuable information and insight of many interesting courses such as Optometry and Physiology. I found the human anatomy museum the most fascinating as we got to see real muscles and organs from donors, some of which had faced diseases and how it affected them. This gave a deeper understanding on how the body works and I believe it was most interesting as it showed how the inside of our body looks and works. I am so grateful for the experience as it opened up many pathways I didn’t know were possible and has given me insight on what to expect when going into the medical field, motivating me to explore my opportunities further to get a clearer understanding of what I want to pursue. - Isha Baynosa 11RHS 

Fa’afetai lava for Mr Talamaivao for organising us for the day.