​Piopio te kaakano kia puawai
Nurture the seed and watch it grow and blossom.

Invest in the future of healthcare through the Middlemore Foundation Pacific Workforce Development Fund 

This Fund is dedicated to narrowing the equity gap within our healthcare workforce. It's a pressing issue as Pacific people face premature mortality, higher rates of chronic diseases, and their children experience the highest rate of hospitalisation for acute and chronic respiratory and infectious illnesses. Yet Pacific people make up a mere 6.7% of the country’s healthcare workforce.

 

The Fund supports graduates of the Pacific Health Science Academies, a unique educational pathway lead by FOU: the Future is Open to Us within South Auckland schools that guides students interested in healthcare as a career path, with scholarships and cadetships. Currently, there are 600 students studying in South Auckland’s Health Science Academies. We are committed to ensuring that every single one of them knows they have the support required to transition to tertiary education and into the Healthcare Workforce. 

 

Our scholarships offer financial and pastoral support to students graduating to tertiary study. Scholarships from the Fund are distributed at the discretion of Academy teachers to students they know require financial assistance. These scholarships cover the first two years of tertiary study and are disbursed annually, contingent upon the student's return to their studies. The Fund also lends its support to FOU Tertiary (The Future is Ours) by providing pastoral care, extra tuition, and mentoring to students on placement at Middlemore Hospital.

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Health Science Academy students have been gaining hands-on experience through our pilot cadetship programme across Counties Manukau. This initiative offers students valuable paid work experience in healthcare and is a continuation of our mahi supporting our future healthcare workforce.

 

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Hynds Foundation and Lotteries Community Grants, the programme has so far provided 53 cadets exposure to various hospital departments and community health providers including GP clinics and organisations like the Cause Collective. Under the guidance of experienced staff and mentors, students have gained insights into the diverse career pathways within the health sector.

 

Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive with one cadet sharing, "The cadetship was a great way to get hands-on experience in healthcare. It made me realise just how many different roles exist, its not just doctors and nurses."

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