Tairāwhiti rangatahi Lena Keenan inspired to improve healthcare for rural communities

Lena Keenan with her grandmother Lena Te Rina Koiauruiterangi Hussey, whose experiences with the health system inspired Keenan to work in health. Photo / Matai O'Connor

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Tairāwhiti rangatahi Lena Keenan hopes to one day help fill the gaps in the health system by providing consistent care along the East Coast.

This dream is becoming reality for the Year 13 Tolaga Bay Area School student after spending a week experiencing first-hand what it’s like to perform surgeries and care for patients on the Mobile Surgery Unit – Te Waka Hauora.

The Mobile Surgery Unit (MSU) is a fully equipped operating theatre that is built to be used for a range of day surgeries. It travels across Aotearoa, providing equitable access to health services to those living rurally.

It has been to Te Puia Springs twice in the last year and its crew has worked with Ngāti Porou Oranga and Te Whatu Ora Tairāwhiti after an eight-year hiatus in the region.

Keenan, of Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Porou descent, was able to help on a day when the MSU was open to the public and demonstrations were held to show what it could do. Afterwards, Mobile Health chief executive Mark Eager asked if she would be interested in work experience on board the MSU for a week.

“I knew that it was an amazing opportunity and so I took it,” she said.

Keenan’s interest in pursuing a career in health comes from witnessing health professionals in their workplace and her own experiences in hospital, attending various paediatric appointments and doctors’ appointments for severe allergies and a skin condition while growing up.

She was also there for many surgery recoveries of her grandmother, Lena Te Rina Koiauruiterangi Hussey.

With each of the recoveries, Keenan would sing waiata for her grandmother and help put her mind at ease.

“She would often call me her medicine,” she said.

Along with this, her grandmother recently “made a new friend” - Demi, also known as dementia.

“Her friend Demi is an approach we as a family have taken to better support her in handling the recent diagnosis,” she said.

As Keenan grew up, she started to take more notice of the lack of consistent medical care on the East Coast.

She saw how “out-of-town” doctors were unfamiliar with the whakapapa of the people as she grew up understanding that being aware of a person’s whakapapa was essential.

“Especially when providing them with healthcare.”

Keenan began to think about what she could do. She began to think about a career in health that would help provide Tairāwhiti with consistent healthcare.

“I find joy in supporting others and seeing my community thrive because I know that our community is only as strong as the people who care for it.”

Keenan’s experience on the bus began on a Monday in Te Puia Springs with dental work on tamariki (children) from across Tairāwhiti.

“I was put into scrubs to look the part,” she said.

Keenan thought she would only be observing the whole week but she was given the role of being a dental assistant, working closely with a dentist and the rest of his team.

“After being hands-on, I started feeling the part.”

Lena Keenan working in the Mobile Surgery Unit.

They stayed in Te Puia until that Tuesday afternoon before setting off for Dannevirke, arriving on Thursday when she got the chance to observe colonoscopies and gastroscopies.

Keenan’s job was to take patients to the recovery room after their surgery. She took this as a chance to get to know each patient in the hope of making made them feel more comfortable. Then on Friday, they headed to Featherston to do more dental work.

Ngāti Porou Oranga (NPO) director of health Sonya Smith said the surgeries provided worked towards reducing wait lists and maintaining access to care.

“NPO want to grow more of our own so we are excited to see Lena take the opportunity for further experience and learning,” Smith said.

“The mobile surgical service, alongside of their teaching programmes, is an important cog in the wheel of rural healthcare across Aotearoa.”

Eager said Aotearoa faced a significant challenge with the shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly in rural communities.

“There is no quick solution, but we believe that the key lies in fostering a passion for healthcare in our rangatahi [young people] at an early stage,” he said.

Eager said it was important to show pathways to becoming a healthcare professional were achievable, no matter where they came from.

“In the long term, if Lena continues on this journey through medical training we can envision her returning home, contributing to her iwi and ultimately giving back to our rural areas where these skills are so desperately needed.”

Keenan said she loved working with the team in the facility and it had given her confidence in the pursuit of her chosen career.

Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.