Getting Better

Trainee doctor Emma Espiner introduces her new podcast Getting Better - A Year in the Life of a Māori Medical Student.

Emma Espiner goes to Porirua to meet the Wallace whānau and hear about a night in ED that changed their lives.

For her GP placement, Emma asked to go to Northland. She's on the road with rural doctor Kyle Eggleton, whose weekly clinic is in the remote outpost of Tuparehuia.

Dr Vaaiga Autagavaia takes Emma to meet the Rugby League team he coaches in Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, a training programme that goes far beyond sport and into the development of life skills.

Emma's in Tairāwhiti, where "by Māori for Māori" has the potential to be more than just a slogan in healthcare.

Why do so few indigenous doctors end up becoming surgeons? And why does it matter?

Emma travels home to Tukorehe for her tā moko, and gets some advice from Dr Glenn Colquhoun.

Emma spends lockdown at Auckland hospital, and sees how government action on COVID-19 underlines the lack of urgency when it comes to Māori health.