207The duo live in Hastings, hail from Ngāti Porou (Tokomaru Bay) and were raised at Waiouru by a family of medics who served in the army.
During the 2021 COVID lockdown, they both made a decision to change their line of work and enrol in the Bachelor of Nursing programme at Eastern Institute of Technology.
It was not a joint plan as they did not know the other had signed up to the course.
“We had both enrolled and didn’t even know it until later on. Lucky we both did, because we’ve been able to keep each other strong during those three years of hard out study,” Katrina said.
Their inspiration – Dad almost dies
Jessica, 28, who managed a local café and also held down a job as a dispatcher at a processing plant, was inspired to take up nursing because of her dad’s near-death experience when she was 13.
“Our dad ended up in ICU and he was really, really sick. We weren’t sure if he was going to make it. He ended up in an induced coma for 10 days. And that was a really scary time for our family.
“The nurses who cared for him were amazing. They were really good with my dad and our family, keeping us informed of what was going on. When I got older and asked myself the question ‘what do I want to do?’
“I kept coming back to those times. I decided I wanted to care for people just like those nurses who helped my dad during the toughest time in our lives.”
Today Jessica is doing exactly what those nurses did, as she enters the third month of her new job as an ICU nurse at Hastings Hospital.
The older sister Katrina, 33, worked as a forklift supervisor and dispatch coordinator before enrolling in nursing studies. Her ‘why’ was based on her own health experiences, as a patient pursuing fertility treatments, and as a support person for patients.
“I started wanting to work and create change in women’s health, as there is an infamous lack of research and consideration into women’s health issues. My time in study inspired me to expand that kaupapa further to all vulnerable whānau who fall through the cracks from issues that are no fault of their own, particularly our Māori and Pasifika whānau,” Katrina said.
“I became frustrated and angry at how the smallest thing, like lack of transport, money for appointments or childcare could result in an entire whānau not being able to access decent healthcare interventions. It inspired me to muck in, find barriers, do what I could to break them down and advocate for our people.
“As a result, I found myself graduating into a community nurse, and working at Te Kupenga Hauora – Ahuriri, a Māori health organisation and iwi health provider which does just that.”
“Most of my mahi is going out to the community in mobile clinics and right now, most of the whānau I am seeing are homeless. I provide them with health checks and health education, but I feel their pain is bigger than what I can fix,” Katrina said.
“Most of them actually have serious mental health issues but there’s just not enough support services here for them. I get so frustrated and angry with that. My heart sinks when I hear they’ve been discharged from hospital back onto the streets.
“This is why its so important that the Government properly funds mental health and Māori health providers who will be able to do so much more than they do, if resourced better,” Katrina said.
They made it
Graduating with their nursing degrees last month was a reminder to both sisters of a strong resilience they did not think they had.
“Our cohort started with roughly 100 students but only about a half made it through,” Jessica said.
“Most of them pulled out because of economic pressures and the mental health they suffered by losing their homes and part-time jobs to Cyclone Gabrielle and struggles of not being able to afford to do placement.”
Katrina was so passionate about the need to pay students while on placement, that she helped to lead a nationwide campaign last year to highlight the issue.
“I was part of the National Student Unit (NSU) and co-chaired the Te Matau-a-Maui region as the National student rep alongside the Te Runanga Tauira rep. NSU organised a nationwide ‘Tauira Rise Up!’ rally which was to petition the Government for funded training for student nurses due to the 33% drop out rate.
“I could feel the struggle and pain of so many tauira. That’s why I fought as hard as I could when we as nursing students campaigned last year to get paid while on placement.
“At times, I had to send my child to my parents, who live more than 40km away, so I could hold down my placement and do two part-time jobs at the same time,” said Katrina who is the sole parent of a four-year-old daughter.
“I’d finish my mahi at the meatworks around 7am then head straight to the hospital to have a shower and start my placement there. Then after that I’d rush back home to care for an elderly relative of a friend.”
Her sister Jessica also held down three part-time jobs while studying.
It’s about mana, not money
While many nurses are leaving Aotearoa to work overseas where the pay is more, the sisters are fine to stay put for now.
‘Our people, especially Māori, are here and they need us. We know the pay is better overseas, but money isn’t the measure of mana for us.’
“Yes, nurses, especially those in primary care need to be paid more fairly, but I wouldn’t move away from home because of that,” Katrina said.
“Right now, I am doing the same work as those ICU nurses who saved my dad’s life, so Aotearoa is me right now,” Jessica said.
Māori nurse membership has been at eight per cent for 40 years and more Māori nurses are needed to grow a culturally safe workforce, Katrina said.