Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have settled in well as we embark on another exciting year together.
As we step into 2025, we extend our heartfelt appreciation for the engagement and collaboration over the previous years. This year holds great promise, and we look forward to the opportunities, challenges, and successes that we will navigate together.
Wishing you all a year filled with growth, achievement, and fulfillment—both professionally and personally.
Here’s to a successful and inspiring 2025 ahead! |
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| Membership Board Spotlight: |
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Abel Smith is the longest-serving director on the Pasifika Medical Association Membership Board and in 2022 was recognized with a PMA Life Member award.
This year marks Abel’s 40th year as a registered nurse and experience in the nursing and health care sector as a senior Pacific nurse Leader, Manager, Clinician, and Educator and he currently holds the role of Director of Pacific Health at Te Toka Tumai, Auckland Hospital .
In 2015, Abel received the New Zealand Nurses Organisation’s National Award in recognition for his services to nursing and midwifery. Abel is the current President of the Fiji Nurses Association New Zealand, a senior lecturer for the Aniva programme, a Trustee of the Auckland Nurses Education and Research Trust, among numerous other advisory and governance groups in Pacific health. Abel is currently enrolled in his Doctoral in Health Science studies at AUT and is on track to complete this in August of this year. We are so privileged to have his wealth of knowledge and experience on our Membership Board and have resisted his attempts to step down thus far! |
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Abel Smith RN, BN, MPP (Leadership) Executive Director |
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How long have you been with PMA and how did you first get involved? I first became aware of PMA in 1996 when they were first formed and heard about the organization from my Pacific Doctor colleagues. However, I did not join until the year 2000 as I had thought the organization membership was only opened to Doctors. A few years after, I was asked by the Chairman of the Board to join the Board as a nurse representative. It was around that time when PMA was commissioned by the MOH to oversee and provide support to the Pacific Health Professional Organizations in New Zealand.
How do you see the PMA contributing to these changes PMA has always taken a leading role in contributing to changes that benefit our Pacific communities and Pacific Health workforce, not only here in New Zealand but also across the Pacific region. The current leadership will continue to contribute to changes that positively impact our Pacific communities and Pacific workforce. |
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What are the changes you have observed in the Pacific Health workforce over time, particularly nursing? How are we doing and what would you like to see change?
I have seen a lot of changes throughout the years, that I’ve been part of PMA. I know that prior to joining as a board member, the PMA group had already had 2 of our senior Pacific nurses on their board. So from its early beginnings Pacific nurses have been part of the governance structures of PMA.
PMA have always favorably opened their doors to their Pacific nursing colleagues and we have been fortunate to be included as part of their work programme. Our Pacific nursing workforce and organizations in NZ have benefitted from their close relationship with PMA and these benefits have been noted in workforce, leadership, development, scholarship programme and medical mission programme etc.
I feel that we are doing very good as an organization. However all good organizations need to continually grow. I would like to see growth in our recognition and acknowledgment programme. In particular I would like to see PMA taking a more active role in advocating for more national and international recognition of our Pacific Medical, Nursing and Health Workforce. I know that we have been doing that for many years now, however I think that the time is ripe now for us to put more effort and resources into this. We want to be able to tell our own stories and sing our own song to the world, acknowledging the work and the contribution of our Pacific Health workforce and our contribution at a national, regional and global level. Too often we wait till someone has passed on to acknowledge the good that they have done.
I’d certainly like to see our young, enthusiastic, dedicated health professionals, being given recognition now for their good work and not have them wait till they are too old and tired to enjoy the spoils of their work and contribution to the health and well-being of our people and communities.
What are your 2025 New Year's resolutions? My new year’s resolutions have not changed much since I heard of the word resolutions and that is going back to a little over 40 years ago. However, with the progression of age, I’ve become more determined to not only think about my resolutions but to put things in place to achieve them. Health and Wellbeing features highly on my list and I hope to do more travelling to places that I’ve never visited here in New Zealand and in my beautiful home Island Fiji.
What do you do to relax? Or what would be an ideal day/weekend? Relaxation for me is something that I look forward to on my weekends. I spend a lot of time over the weekend resting, relaxing and recovering from my busy working week and replenishing my reserves for the next working week. I also spend a lot of time with my dog and try to make up for the time that I’m not there during the working week. An ideal weekend for me would be resting and relaxing on a beach in Fiji with family and friends.
Kind regards, Abel Smith |
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| Official Naming of Membership Newsletter - TUTALA |
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We are excited to announce the official naming of the Membership Newsletter.
TUTALA in the Niuean language translates to discussion or conversation, the newsletter embodies and encourages a space of talanoa and storytelling from our Membership family both locally and within the region. TUTALA Newsletter is our Membership outlet for all things to keep our members updated and engaged.
Special thanks to PMA's Director of Culture & Language for their assistance in naming the Newsletter. |
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| PMA Conference 2025 I Save the Date |
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| The Pasifika Medical Association’s (PMA) 29th annual conference is set to take place in Nuku'alofa, Tonga from September 14 - 18th, 2025.
This year’s theme, “Ke hakeakii pea fakalahi mo ha ngaahi faingamalie ki he mo’ui ‘oku lelei" - Pushing Boundaries
More details to come ! |
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| Traumatic Brain Injury Conference I Christchurch |
| The first Traumatic Brain Injury conference will be held in March 2025 in Christchurch.
The conference theme: “Keeping it Real: Real Injury, Real People, Real Lives” will emphasize the lived experiences of individuals and their families who are affected by TBI.
The latest research, rehabilitation and approaches to enhancing people’s lives with new ideas and solutions for everyday issues will also be key themes from 36 conference sessions and 42 speakers, including a number of international speakers. There are also a number of presentations on concussion in sport.
Interpoint Events, who have been organizing the Brain Injury Australia conference since 2018, has partnered with the Laura Fergusson Brain Injury Trust for this new conference.
It will be held at Te Pae Convention Centre, Christchurch, on Wednesday 12th & Thursday 13th March, 2025.
For general enquiries call: 📲 NZ 0800 451 590 📲 AUS 1300 789 845 📧 tbi@willorganise.com.au
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| The Royal NZ College of GP (RNZCGP) I Funding |
| The College supports research and education projects that benefit general practice, rural general practice and rural hospital medicine through three funding rounds each year.
Today, the first funding round of 2025 has opened, and applications will be accepted until Wednesday 5 March.
Applicants don’t need to be a member of the College to apply, the research just needs to be relevant to the workforce. |
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| Pacific Paediatric Conference 2025 |
| The Pacific Paediatric Association (PPA) is the peak body consisting of Paediatricians and Child Health Nurses from the pacific region who provide specialist health care and advocacy for children and young people locally, regionally and internationally.
This year the PPA will be hosting our biannual conference with this year’s theme “Pacific Child Health: Examining the Past, Defining the Present and Moving Towards a Brighter Future” on the 25th - 27th April, 2025, in Nadi, Fiji.
The collective goal of PPA’s conference is to facilitate training from leading Paediatricians and health researchers who have generously sacrificed their time and resources to upskill and build the capacity of our regional Paediatric workforce. We expect around 100-150 participants from across 13 countries in Oceania. |
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