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Download AudioMaori health leader Maria Baker has returned to her roots to run the Kaitaia-based health service Te Hiku Hauora.
Ms Baker has been heading the Maori health workforce development organisation Te Rau Ora for 17 years.
She says after long-serving CEO Bill Halkyard retired she jumped at the chance to return to an organisation she worked for 20 years ago.
In that time it has grown from a mobile nursing service to having about 150 staff covering a wide range of areas.
“We’ve been really fortunate to have GP practices. We’ve got physio, we’ve got pharmacy, we’ve got dentistry, we’re got a wonderful hauora Maori outreach team, we’ve got nurse practitioners, nurses, kaiawhina, kaimahi Maori and other whanau working with us at the minute,” Ms Baker says.
She says the far north has a long history of innovation which she is keen to contribute to.
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