An eye on social enterprise - Ravi Dass - WINTER 2020 - Medical Assurance Society
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WINTER 2020 Ravi Dass An eye on social enterprise Greater good Social science / Did the lockdown make us better people? Money Economy / Navigating the great uncertainty Good living Travel / Islands in the stream (Kiwi style)
10 organisations working
on COVID-19-related
programmes in New Zealand
The information contained in OnMAS is of a general nature communities.
and should not be used or relied upon as a substitute
for detailed advice or as a basis for formulating business We consider how our brains
decisions. The opinions of contributors are their own and are wired for social connection
not necessarily those of the publisher or editor. and how students have been
affected by the lack of hands-
©2020. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may on tutoring and we look at
be reproduced in whole or part without the prior permission From MAS some of the ways our Members
of the publisher. have been working to help
What a year 2020 has been their communities during
– and we’re only halfway the lockdown.
PUBLISHER MAILING ADDRESS through it.
MAS OnMAS I hope you enjoy this issue of
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Members in the new post- we can help.
WEBSITE EMAIL COVID normal.
mas.co.nz onmas@mas.co.nz Kātahi rā te tau ko te 2020,
MAS was established in 1921 me te mea hoki - kua tae ki te
EDITOR DESIGN as a mutual, and events like hauruatanga noa iho.
Sophie Speer eightyone.co.nz the pandemic demonstrate
the importance of the Ki Aotearoa nei, te āhua
mutual ethos and a collective nei kua karo tātou i ngā
THE HUB approach. We’re grateful MAS tino taumahatanga i tau ki
For more stories, videos and to share your views, was not seriously affected whenua kē i tāwāhi, ā, ka
visit the MAS Hub at hub.mas.co.nz. The hub is the by the lockdown, since that huri ināianei ngā whakaaro
go-to site for features from OnMAS issues, as well meant we were in a position o tēnei pakihi ki te tautoko
as helpful information and useful tips on all the things to carry on meeting Member i ngā Mema i tēnei ao hou
that matter to us –
and to you. You can easily share needs and able to offer a relief [whai muri i te Mate Korona].
stories from the hub with friends and family, see videos package for Members who
that delve deeper and have your say on issues affecting were struggling. Nō te tau 1921 a MAS i tīmata
you and your community. ai hei pakihi tauawhiawhi nō
Fittingly, then, this issue ngā mema, ā, ka whakaatu
of OnMAS looks at the ngā kaupapa pēnei i te urutā
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION importance of community i te whakahirahira o ngā
Every effort has been made to guarantee the pages in this post-pandemic world. mātāpono tauawhiawhi me
of OnMAS are sustainably sourced and produced Our cover story is one of two te kotahitanga. Māringanui
using paper that meets the environmental standards profiles that discuss what’s mātou kāore a MAS i kaha
shown below. It is then packaged in an eco-friendly being done to treat avoidable raru i te taratahi, i te mea
degradable wrap for protection in transit. blindness and sight issues i taea tonutia e mātou te
here in New Zealand and whakaea i ngā wawata o
around the Pacific. ngā Mema me te rarau i ngā
pūtea tautoko mō ngā Mema
We find out about the MAS e raru ana.
Foundation’s first round of
grants, which saw almost Nā whai anō, ka aro atu tēnei
$350,000 distributed to wāhanga o te OnMAS ki te hira
ISBN 2230-5823
In this issue on mas /
winter 2020
04
o tēnei mea te hapori i tēnei
ao hou whai muri i te urutā.
On the cover
Ko tā mātou kaupapa matua
i te uhi-pukapuka ko tētahi
tuhinga (o ngā tuhinga e rua)
e matapaki ana i ngā mea e
mahia ana ki te whakaora i te greater good
mate kerepō e taea te karo, ki
Aotearoa nei, ki te Moananui- 04 Cover story / Charities with vision
a-Kiwa whānui hoki. 10 MAS update / MAS Foundation
makes its first grants
Ka whakamōhio atu i ngā 14 Social science / Did the lockdown
tukunga pūtea o te tukunga make us better people?
tuatahi o te MAS Foundation, 17 Environmental science / Pest-free
he kaupapa i tuku i te neke Opoutere
atu i te $300,000 ki ngā rōpū 24 Member profile / Life in lockdown
10 e kawe ana i ngā mahi e for MAS Members
hāngai ana ki ngā kaupapa
KOWHEORI-19 i ngā hapori
14
huri noa i Aotearoa.
Ka wānangahia te wāhi o te
whanaungatanga ki te roro
o te tangata; ngā uauatanga MAS Member and
kua pā atu ki ngā ākonga [kua optometrist Ravi Dass.
mahue] [nā te kore] te tautoko
waiwai kanohi-ki-te-kanohi;
ka titiro hoki ki ētahi huarahi
i tautoko ai ngā Mema i ō professional life
rātou hapori i ēnei rā o te
taratahi. 02 News briefs
09 MAS update / Our response good living
Ko taku tino wawata, ka pai to COVID-19 for Members
tēnei wāhanga o OnMAS ki 13 Member profile / Rising star descends 33 Travel / Islands in the stream
a koe, kia kaua e wareware, on The Hague 37 Food & drink / So, you bought
kei kōnei mātou ki te āwhina 20 Member profile / The comeback kid enough tinned tomatoes to last
i a koe. Mehemea he pātai, he 22 Workplace / Automation in an era of a lifetime. Now what?
āwangawanga rānei e pā ana COVID-19 40 Entertainment / Books and films
ki tō inihua, ō haumi moni 30 Student news / Students on pandemic
rānei, tēnā, me whakapā atu disruptions
33
ki tētahi o ō mātou kaitautoko, 32 Member profile / Graduating
māna koe e āwhina. with financial confidence
Kia kaha, kia māia, kia
manawanui. money
Mike Davy 28 Economy / Navigating the great
General Manager, Marketing uncertainty
and Products
on mas the magazine for mas members 1
P professional life /
news briefs
News briefs
In brief
In good expenses, debt reduction and saving for
the future. There are also challenges for
health driving safely and practising gratitude
and tips on remote working.
MAS’s new health and wellbeing specific needs and goals, helping busy Challenges offer small incremental
portal can help you improve your people make healthy life choices and ways to improve your health, with most
mental and physical wellness. Best improve their overall wellbeing and requiring just minutes each day to
of all, it’s free for MAS Members, quality of life. The content is regularly complete and update how you’re tracking.
their families and friends. updated and is designed to respond to
users’ needs. More than 800 Members have signed
MAS is challenging its Members to up since the portal launched in April,
improve their health and wellbeing in The portal also provides users access to with the most popular areas being those
four closely interlocked areas: physical, special offers with discounts available on focused on physical and mental wellbeing
mental, spiritual and financial. health-related products, which include as well as tips for improving sleep.
shakti mats, Fitbits, HelloFresh meal kits
The new MAS Wellbeing Portal is free to and Les Mills On Demand memberships. MAS and Synergy Health take privacy
join and offers a personalised experience very seriously. Any personal information
to help Members develop a holistic Developed in conjunction with entered into the portal cannot be viewed
approach to managing their wellbeing Synergy Health, the portal is loaded by anyone else, including MAS, so
in a way that is designed to be fun, easy with different challenges depending Members are encouraged to be as open
and engaging. on your needs. You could try the and honest as they want to be.
Sugar Crash challenge to reduce your
After completing a short needs analysis sugar intake over two weeks or Money To find out more or to sign up for the
in the form of a questionnaire, the portal Talks challenges to help you allocate MAS Wellbeing Portal, visit mas.co.nz/
delivers resources tailored to each user’s future income to your expected living mas-wellbeing-portal.
2 winter 2020
One hundred
years of 100 YEARS OF LOGOS
memories
In 2021, MAS will celebrate 100 years
of care and service for our Members,
and we want you to share your
memories with us.
MAS was established in 1921 in Napier
by a group of doctors, and over the
past 100 years, we’ve grown to more
than 37,000 Members as we’ve
welcomed in more professionals
from different sectors.
Ahead of our centenary, we’re
looking for memorabilia, photos,
stories and people who were central
MAS is now
to the growth and success of MAS.
Was your relative one of the first
emailing policy
Members of MAS? Do you have items
that show the way the professions
documents
have evolved over the past 100
years? We’d love to hear from you.
Email us at onmas@mas.co.nz and
share your memories with us. As part of our ongoing commitment
to sustainability, policy documents,
including annual policy renewal notices,
are now being emailed to Members.
Previously, policy documents have been
Keep your
sent by post, but switching to emailed
Join meeting
versions will reduce the amount of paper
diary free
we use and ensure Members can always
access their policy documents wherever
they are and whenever suits them.
The MAS Annual General Meeting is being held this year on 26 August
and, for the first time in our history, will be held solely online. It’s a great We have been inviting Members to either
opportunity to hear about MAS's key activities over the past year including confirm the email address they would like
business results, major milestones and membership achievements. us to use or register a new email address.
If you have not yet confirmed these details,
We’ll provide a formal invitation to the AGM when we send out the Annual please email documents@mas.co.nz
Report in early August. At the same time, we will also provide forms for with your name and your Member number.
Full Members to vote on business items at the meeting, including for the
two Practitioner Trustee roles. Alternatively, you can log in to the Member
area, choose the My details option and
If you have any questions about the AGM or your eligibility to vote, please update your primary email address.
email agm@mas.co.nz.
on mas the magazine for mas members 3
G greater good /
cover story
Charities with Vision
Maintaining good eyesight is something most of us take for granted in the developed world,
but it’s a major problem in some underprivileged communities here in New Zealand and in
developing countries in our region. OnMAS looks at how two charities are helping people
improve their vision and the difference this work is making to their communities.
4 winter 2020
Opposite / Founder of Foureyes the Foundation
Ravi Dass
Bronté’s mum Viv says the family had DJ, dentist and now an optometrist too.
01 / Titahi Bay School pupil Bronté Reti, who no idea that Bronté was having trouble I love wearing my glasses. I can see from
received glasses from the Foureyes Foundation with his eyesight, and since he started a far distance like when I’m sitting on the
wearing glasses, he has suffered from mat far away from the board or computer
fewer headaches and is now watching at school and after- school care … it’s not
TV from the couch rather than sitting blurry any more.”
close to the screen.
An eye
Unequal screening
“At first we were quite shocked. We Ravi says the Foundation’s findings show
had no idea that Bronté was having one in 10 children need glasses. The issue
trouble with his vision at all as he hadn’t is even more pronounced in low-decile
on the future mentioned it and it wasn’t obvious.”
Bronté is so happy with the process and
his new Star Wars glasses he now wants
schools, where students are twice as likely
to experience trouble with their eyesight.
Māori and Pacific Island communities
also see higher rates, he says.
One in 10 children have issues to be an optometrist when he grows up.
with their eyesight, but many of “What we’re trying to do is to reduce
these problems go undiagnosed. “I want to be a YouTuber until I grow up, barriers for children through free vision
The Foureyes Foundation is and then I’m going to be a builder, doctor, screening, free eye tests and free glasses
working to identify these school- >>
age children in the Wellington
region and supply them with
glasses.
Titahi Bay’s Bronté Reti is feeling the
force of clear vision thanks to his new
Star Wars glasses.
The seven-year-old could still have
been struggling with blurred vision
if he hadn’t received free eye screening
and testing through the Foureyes
Foundation.
Established in 2016, the charity has
screened more than 5,000 children in
30 schools across Wairarapa and Porirua.
More than 500 were referred for further
eye testing, and of this group, more than
300 received glasses.
The initiative is spearheaded by MAS
Member and optometrist Ravi Dass,
owner of social enterprise business
Mr Foureyes, which funds the work
of the Foundation.
While a system is already in place to
screen children’s vision at a national
level, Ravi says it’s inevitable some
vision problems will be missed. Left
undiagnosed too long, the risk is that
children will slip through the system,
leading to learning difficulties and
poorer outcomes later in life. 01
on mas the magazine for mas members 5
G
05
Fred Hollows was born in 1929 and raised
in Dunedin and Palmerston North. He
attended Otago Medical School before
training in ophthalmology in the UK.
He began practising in Australia in
the early 1960s and was moved by the
plight of remote Aboriginal communities
where he noted an alarming incidence of
04
trachoma, an eye disease that can lead to
04 / Village chief and keen gardener Jesse from Vanuatu had his eyesight restored after
developing cataracts 05 / The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ Engagement Director Margi Mellsop
blindness that is prevalent in developing
societies where hygiene is poor.
Lens on the
Determined to help, Fred looked for ways
Edgar’s is just one of thousands of stories to reduce the cost of surgery, inventing
in the Pacific Islands of people affected by the much cheaper intraocular lens
Pacific
preventable sight loss. The Fred Hollows for a fraction of the original cost. He
Foundation NZ has been working in the established factories in Nepal and Eritrea
Pacific for 18 years, restoring eyesight and – both of which are still operating today.
training new generations of eye doctors.
The intraocular lens that Fred invented
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ For MAS Member Margi Mellsop, it’s costs $5 each, but combined with other
has been working in the stories like these that drive her work. consumables, the total cost of the surgery
Pacific Islands for decades to is $25. Even this is too expensive for
cure preventable blindness. Margi is the Engagement Director for people in many developing countries,
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, and so the Foundation was established to help
Vanuatu weatherman Edgar devoted she looks for opportunities to raise fund surgeries and train eye specialists
his professional life to reading weather awareness and donations for the work for communities in need.
patterns around the world. Proud of his the not-for-profit does in the Pacific.
work, he was responsible for making sure The New Zealand arm of the Foundation
his country’s population was aware of any She is particularly drawn to the began operations in the Pacific and
changes in weather conditions, including Foundation’s ethos of ending avoidable established the Pacific Eye Institute
the cyclones that hammer the region blindness by teaching, rather than charity. to provide eye care services in Fiji and
several times every wet season. He found also to train eye doctors and nurses
the work important and satisfying. “In some ways, it’s an anti-charity we throughout the Pacific.
want to ensure that we do ourselves out
But when Edgar started getting cataracts of a job. The idea is that, instead of going More than 300 doctors and nurses
and losing his sight, suddenly his ability in to do the work ourselves, we train local have been trained so far, and they
to work slipped away, affecting the entire eye doctors and nurses to do the job for return to their home countries to
community who depended on his reports. their own communities,” Margi says. >>
on mas the magazine for mas members 7
G 06 / Dr Nola Pikacha treats a patient in the Solomon Islands 07 / A patient during a vision check at the eye clinic at Madang Hospital, Papua New Guinea 08 / A patient recovers after cataract surgery in Tonga
P professional life /
mas update
Our response
to COVID-19
for Members
While medical professionals have been at the
frontline in the fight against COVID-19, many
have faced financial stress due to decreased
patronage in medical practices and an increase Relief fund Community grants
in costs related to COVID-19 prevention. A $2 million relief fund has been The recently established MAS
set up to help Members retain Foundation (see pages 10–12)
their insurance cover if they find made almost $350,000 of
That’s why MAS put together “We see it as our duty to ensure themselves in financial hardship. grants in April for COVID-related
a significant relief package our Members are able to get relief and recovery initiatives
for its Members, built around through in these challenging Those who are unable to pay around the country. These
a $2 million hardship fund times and, importantly, retain their regular bills and have grants are helping communities
for those who have found insurance coverage wherever exhausted other options where needs are greatest, yet
themselves in financial difficulty. possible. provided by the government or their wellbeing is persistently
their bank can apply for this help compromised.
The package also includes “We are particularly aware of our from MAS. If they qualify, MAS
a pass-back to Members with responsibility to New Zealand’s will pay the premiums for their Find out more at mas.co.nz/
motor vehicle insurance of medical professionals who general insurance, life, disability about-mas/mas-foundation/
savings that MAS has made on have been so crucial in the and income protection policies grant-stories
reduced motor vehicle claims, past few months providing safe for three months.
a series of grants from the MAS testing and care for Kiwis with
Foundation to community COVID-19. Members wishing to apply to
organisations involved in the the relief fund should email
fight against COVID-19 and “We believe the resilience of the hardship@mas.co.nz Health and wellbeing
a broader series of health professional sector is vital to MAS is funding three free
and wellbeing initiatives for New Zealand, and our Members counselling sessions for each
Members. across the professions will Member with independent
remain core to regrowing our counselling agency EAP
Chief Executive Martin Stokes economy as we transition beyond Motor vehicle Claim savings Services. In addition, MAS has
says MAS was set up in 1921 lockdown, so we want to do our With fewer people driving during launched an online health and
to help support doctors, and part to ensure they can keep the lockdown, any savings MAS wellbeing portal that is free for
continuing to protect Members working and providing Kiwis with has made on motor vehicle every Member and their family.
in the medical professions world-class care and support claims are being passed back (see page 2)
remains a primary focus as going forward,” Stokes says. to Members with motor vehicle
the nation emerges from our insurance.
biggest ever public health crisis.
on mas the magazine for mas members 9greater good /
mas update
Chatbot eases
healthcare
system pressure
Almost half a million messages have
been sent through two contagious
disease chatbots, created by Kiwi doctors
to help deliver accurate information to
the public on measles and COVID-19.
Canaan Aumua, a public health
registrar and part-time GP, and Sanjeev
Krishna, who works in urgent care and
as a teaching fellow at the University
of Auckland, set up their first chatbot
in October 2019 to give reliable advice
about measles via Facebook Messenger
as the 2019 measles outbreak was
gaining momentum in New Zealand
and the Pacific Islands.
Canaan says they were concerned by the
level of false information being shared
on social media about measles, and with
two million Kiwis on Facebook, it made
sense to create a bot that would operate
through Facebook Messenger.
A chatbot is an automated question
and answer function that appears on
a website and can answer a huge volume
of questions in multiple languages in
a short time. Most chatbots also have
machine learning capabilities that allow
MAS Foundation
them to become more effective over time
as they learn what kind of information
users want and how best to present
makes its first
that information.
“There was a stigma around vaccination
grants
for measles, which was something we
were really trying to combat, and we
thought what’s an easy way to get accurate
information out there and still be able
The MAS Foundation delivered its first round of funding to do that at scale. The easiest, most
in April, donating almost $350,000 to 10 not-for-profits innovative way to do that was a chatbot
focused on helping their communities fight COVID-19. on Facebook Messenger,” Canaan says.
10 winter 2020Opposite / Ark Health Discovery cofounders
(from left) Sanjeev Krishna, Cole Rudolph and
Canaan Aumua
01 / Āmio chatbot is designed to help provide
reliable advice and information during the
COVID-19 pandemic
Other
recipients
GOODFELLAS PROJECT –
MEN’S HEALTH TRUST NZ
menshealthnz.org.nz
The trust promotes good health for
01
New Zealand men, and the MAS
Foundation funding will support
The result was Mītara, which ran through checklist to allow users to determine the trust’s new Good fellas project.
the Stop Measles NZ Facebook page. It whether or not they need to be tested. $60,000–$90,000
launched in October 2019 and has racked So far, more than 4,000 COVID-19 test
up about 250,000 messages to people self-assessments have been completed.
in New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and TŪ TAIKĀKĀ – TE WHĀNAU
further afield. “This helped relieve the pressure on TOKOTOKORANGI TRUST
the healthcare sector, especially early tokotokorangi.co.nz
With the addition of general practitioner on when people were calling Healthline This Rotorua-based trust is a
Cole Rudolph to their team, the trio saw and taking 10 hours to get through to kaupapa Māori organisation that
the potential of using the same approach get simple information. It also helped provides health and disability
with other public health issues, and as they stop GPs getting bogged down in similar services to youth who are most
watched the COVID-19 crisis escalate, they questioning.” at risk. MAS Foundation funding
created Āmio, a chatbot to disseminate the is going to support a new project
most up-to-date information from reliable Both chatbots provide a very smooth user to build a community-based
sources. Since February 2020, the chatbot experience, which makes it surprising programme for the most at-risk
has sent more than 240,000 messages. that none of the team members had young people in Rotorua.
previous experience with chatbot $78,310
Canaan said Facebook Messenger was development. Instead, they relied on a
an ideal platform for the chatbot because combination of Google searches, YouTube
it was easily updated and already an videos and hours of experimenting. RAPID EVIDENCE REVIEW
important part of many people’s everyday ONLINE PLATFORM –
communication networks, which was “We had such a wealth of experience NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR
especially important in the early days from the measles chatbot so transferring HEALTH INNOVATION (NIHI)
of the crisis when information was that knowledge to COVID-19 was easily nihi.auckland.ac.nz
changing so fast. done. We had it up and running in six NIHI, based at the University of
days with us all still working full-time, Auckland, is currently bridging
“We’d update every time there was a new spending whatever time we could on it. academia, policy makers and
announcement, like early on when border decision makers. MAS Foundation
restrictions were changing rapidly, and “Because we were working in the clinical funding will support the
there were questions such as whether or side of things, we knew what we needed development of an online platform
not to use ibuprofen. We find anything to build, which made the development to make this process faster and
that comes up in the media stimulates side of things easier.” less labour-intensive.
the questions people ask.” >> $16,000
They also incorporated an algorithm Continued on page 12 >>
into the chatbot that used the symptom
on mas the magazine for mas members 11G
P professional life /
member profile
The Peace Palace in The Hague
Rising star
descends on
The Hague
What was your experience studying at How did winning Young In-House Lawyer
The Hague like? Since I was young, I was of the Year help make this happen?
fascinated by The Hague and its Peace I am incredibly grateful to MAS for
Palace. It’s one of the most important places sponsoring the award and to Engineering
in the world for international and human New Zealand for nominating me because
rights law and houses the International I wouldn’t have been able to attend The
Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Hague Academy and have this experience
Arbitration and The Hague Academy of without the award scholarship. Experiences
International Law. Professionals and students like this make all my struggles and hard
come from all over the world to attend their work worth it.
three-week intensive course on international
law, which is taught by world-renowned You were also listed in the Rising Star
scholars in international law. list of up and coming lawyers. How did
that feel? It was an absolute honour to be
We were taught by experts from Germany, included on the Rising Star list. In July 2019,
Canada, Argentina, Brazil, France and I joined the Public Law Litigation Team at
Last year, Madison Dobie, who Cameroon. We also received guest lectures Dentons Kensington Swan. Our team provides
had been a lawyer at Engineering from judges of the International Court of dispute resolution and public law advice to
New Zealand, won the New Justice and International Criminal Court a wide variety of clients, including central and
Zealand Law Society’s Young and international ambassadors. local government, private companies, Crown
In-House Lawyer of the Year, an entities and regulatory bodies.
award sponsored by MAS. She What did you take away from the
used the award’s scholarship to experience? Without a doubt, the people Making the shift from in-house to private
travel to The Hague to undertake I met were the highlight of the experience. practice was nerve-racking, but receiving
an intensive three-week study As the course was so intensive, we became such a nomination from Dentons Kensington
programme on international and very close and spent long hours in the Peace Swan was a huge vote of confidence. I am
human rights law. OnMAS spoke Palace Library discussing our countries’ especially grateful to my partners Linda Clark
to Madison about her experience respective challenges and successes. It was and Hayden Wilson for their support and
of The Hague and what she’s truly special to meet young lawyers from all faith in me.
been up to since. around the globe who are passionate about
rights protection and international law.
on mas the magazine for mas members 13G greater good /
social science
Did the lockdown make us
better people?
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in ways that seemed
unthinkable at the start of the year, inflicting major damage to the
world’s health and global economy in the process. But if there has
been a silver lining to the lockdown at all, it has been the reminder that
New Zealanders need each other more than ever.
New Zealand’s lockdown had barely begun when So why did the lockdown provoke this response,
social scientists started thinking about how the and will this crisis have any lasting effects on
experience might influence the way Kiwis think our sense of national solidarity?
about the world around them.
Our social brains
There was plenty of cause for concern. The Neuroscientists like Matthew Lieberman
immediate health and economic damage is from UCLA wouldn’t be surprised by the
obvious. Early on in the lockdown, figures heightened sense of social cohesion fostered
from New Zealand Police and Women’s Refuge by the lockdown. Lieberman's 2013 book Social:
indicated levels of domestic violence were Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect looked to
increasing. And then there was the harder neuroscience to explain why our need for social
to measure but no less serious mental health connection is our most powerful instinct.
cost of the enforced isolation.
Winning money, for example, gives us a positive
On the other hand, the lockdown also seems to neural charge, but so does giving it away. Dr
have had an immediate impact on our sense of Lieberman observed how pleasure centres in
and need for social connectedness with each other. the brain fire up equally under MRI examination
when giving and receiving.
Former Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor
Sir Peter Gluckman noted the level of community Our brains have become wired to harmonise
compliance and collective purpose shown during and connect with each other, he explains, as
the fight against COVID-19 has rarely been seen an evolutionary response. As humans have
outside wartime. News coverage highlighted overcome challenges in the world around us
acts of neighbourhood solidarity, and a Reid through social connection and cooperation,
Research Poll found 91% of New Zealanders the norms of altruism and cohesion became
backed the government’s call to put the country ingrained in our neural networks as a species.
into lockdown.
14 Winter 2020Lack of connection
But there’s a downside to our neural wiring for social
connectivity. Lieberman’s research also observed that
negative social interactions – or the lack of them –
produces the same neural responses as physical pain.
Emotional pain, like being ignored, can generate
the same neural activity as an injury like a sore leg.
This explains why loneliness and social isolation
are growing burdens on health systems across the
globe. Dr Sue Varma, founding medical director of
the World Trade Center mental health programme
at New York University, was recently quoted in
The New Yorker as saying the health consequences
of prolonged loneliness are equivalent to smoking
15 cigarettes a day. The condition can prompt
cardiovascular disease as well as stroke, obesity
or premature death. Fiona Howard
Around the world, governments are taking these People were able to find
meaning in what they
findings seriously. In 2018, the UK established
a Minister for Loneliness and in many countries,
were going through
doctors have started giving socially isolated
patients social prescriptions that refer patients
and join in a sense of
to support in the community in order to improve
their health and wellbeing.
Clinical psychologist and MAS Member Fiona community spirit.
Howard says social support acts as a buffer to
life’s stressors and provides vital stimulation
and meaning in our lives. Commodification weakens connection
Community development expert Anneleise Hall
“Without connection to others, we have little from Project Lyttelton, which aims to create a
opportunity for emotional support or to maintain vibrant sustainable community in the Canterbury
perspective during adverse events.” port town, says the pandemic has revealed the
weaknesses in our increasingly commodified lives.
In times of crisis, she says, many people instinctively
reach out and connect with others. This was seen in “We’ve moved into a time when pretty much all
Christchurch after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, our human activity has now been assigned with
and it has happened again during the lockdown. economic value. We’ve become quite fragmented.
Through the pandemic, we’ve discovered we need
“People were able to give and receive care, each other more than ever and cannot put a price
compassion and help through connection. People on social connections.”
were able to help each other endure and process
difficult experiences. People were able to find Feeling a sense of belonging is important for our
meaning in what they were going through and wellbeing collectively as it helps form resilient
join in a sense of community spirit,” Fiona says. communities, she says, which are those with
>>
on mas the magazine for mas members 15G
G greater good /
environmental science
Opoutere
Pest-free
A one-man mission against
pests has brought a community
together and helped a MAS
Member maintain positive
mental health.
The dawn chorus wakes Opoutere resident
Chris Woudenberg long before sunrise.
“The kākā start first,” he says. “Around 3am.
The dawn chorus here is deafening, but it’s
a beautiful sound.” Chris’s personal project began when he
stumbled upon some abandoned traps
This wasn’t always the case. When Chris on some tracks nearby and decided to put
moved to the small Coromandel community them to use eradicating pest populations.
about seven years ago, birdsong was a rare Quietly, he set to work, mapping the area,
thing – not that he noticed at first. “You don’t self-funding more traps and bait stations
always notice what’s missing – not until you and regularly checking the traps.
get it back.”
Chris, who co-founded instrument and
The engineer and MAS Member soon fell in calibration business CPS, said he made
love with Opoutere and made it his personal his project work by fitting pest trapping in
mission to rid the area of the rats, stoats and You don’t always between work and family life. He roped in his
possums that were keeping native birds family and friends to help, and pretty soon
away and destroying native trees. notice what’s the community started getting on board.
“It was very quiet, there was very little birdlife missing – not until Initially, things started with an initiative where
around and slowly and gradually whole trees locals donated traps. A huge boost came with
were being wiped out.” you get it back. funding grants from organisations including
the Department of Conservation, Thames-
In particular, the local dotterel population Chris Woudenberg Coromandel District Council and Waikato
was under threat, with a DOC ranger required Regional Council, which allowed him to set
to protect them from pests and human Above top / Chris Woudenberg is passionate up more than 300 additional traps and bait
interference during the breeding season. about restoring Opoutere's native ecosystem stations across a wider area of Opoutere.
by removing pests and weeds
>>
Above / Endangered native birds like dotterels
have benefited from the reduction in pests in
Opoutere
on mas the magazine for mas members 17G
02 03
01 / Chris Woudenberg and his godson Logan with two of the targeted 100,000 native plants Chris intends to plant in Opoutere
02 / Chris checks a trap 03 / Opoutere's stunning natural beauty is benefiting from a reduction in weeds
Chris has struggled with depression off and “It brought the community together on
on for years and says having a project to a massive scale. We organised something
focus on – something that got him out in like 28 working bees across two years with
nature doing physical activity – was a huge up to 30 people working – everyone from
help in maintaining positive mental health, eight-year-old kids to people in their 80s.”
alongside medication and counselling.
Now Chris has established a native tree
A marriage breakup caused another low, but nursery on his property and has a goal
it was Opoutere that helped him get through. of planting 100,000 trees by 2040.
“My partner sold me her half of the Opoutere “My neighbours say I can’t do it. It might
place saying the community needed me. be my biggest goal ever.”
Two years later, those words finally made
Above / The endangered moho pererū
sense to me – but it also would save me. or banded rail
He has identified 42 native species that can
I reached out to my neighbours and built thrive in the area and is sourcing seedlings
a community here. from around the region, with neighbours
dropping off plants. An automated watering
“Now I have more positive days than We saw four pairs system on his quarter-hectare section allows
negative days, I started seeing the light him to grow between 3,000 and 5,000
at the end of the tunnel and my energy [of moho pererū] plants a year, and he’s looking for other
for work has returned.” places in the area to nurture the natives
and two chicks to bump that number up even higher.
But it was making a difference in Opoutere
that got him out of bed each day. in one go. We “What’s made it a success is that Opoutere is
so sheltered and provides the perfect growing
His ecology project flourished initially as an got a photo of environment. The birds love it here when
underground initiative, but as it got bigger there are no pests. It gets me excited walking
and encountered more red tape, it was in them crossing on a track seeing pōhutukawa trees in flower
danger of losing momentum. It took another when they’ve never flowered before and the
pest – weeds – to give new momentum to the road. If you’ve trees we planted getting taller than I am.”
Chris and the Opoutere community’s eco-
movement. Invasive exotic plants including got those, you’ve Chris says Opoutere offers hope for every
wild ginger and Elaeagnus were strangling other community in New Zealand where
the peninsula and growing worse by the got very good invasive pests and plants have taken over
year. So Chris established working bees the land.
where teams of volunteers cleared more predator control.
than 2.5 hectares of weeds. “This place is unlike anything else the way
Chris Woudenberg it bounces back.”
on mas the magazine for mas members 19P professional life /
member profile
01
The comeback kid
MAS Senior Adviser Dane father Darien Boswell had been one of New
Boswell's elite rowing career Zealand’s top international rowers of the early
ended prematurely due to 1960s. At a time when international success
02
confusion over a prescription was rare for Kiwi rowers, Boswell senior had
for an injury, but out of that won a silver medal in the coxed four at the
tragedy, came a career he loves. 1962 Empire Games and the Prince Phillip
Cup at the 1963 Henley Regatta (the nearest I told them that
Dane Boswell’s elite rowing career began thing at the time to a world championship)
with a chance meeting in the street with and had been a finalist at the Tokyo Olympics I’d been on
an old friend of his father. in 1964. But Dane had no idea about the
extent of his father’s achievements. His antibiotics and
“In 2003, I was 19, working as a roofer, walking dad’s innate Kiwi modesty meant he’d never
through Hamilton one day and I bumped into boasted about his success or pushed his son I disclosed the
Dad's mate – he asked me what I was doing into rowing as a sport.
on Saturday. I said I’d probably be recovering medication that
from a hangover. He said ‘No, you're coming After that first hangover-free Saturday
for a row. Meet me at the club at 7am, don’t morning, it didn’t take long for Dane to I was taking.
be late’. And that was it,” Dane says. realise he’d inherited the family talent and
passion for rowing. He gave up roofing Dane Boswell
Dane’s recruiter knew he was dealing with and six months later was selected for the
the product of Kiwi rowing royalty. Dane’s New Zealand Under-21 Rowing Academy.
20 winter 2020By 2005, he was studying sports science “I told them that I’d been on antibiotics and 01 / (From front) MAS Senior Adviser Dane
at Wintec and business and computer I disclosed the medication that I was taking. Boswell competes in the 2008 NZ Rowing
Championships with Eric Murray, James
programming at Waikato University on Then I got a phone call pretty quickly saying
Dallinger and Ben Scott
a Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship. my sample had come back positive for
02 / Nelson-based MAS Senior Adviser Dane
probenecid.” Boswell today
In 2006, he earned his black singlet in the 03 / The New Zealand's men's coxed four
New Zealand coxed four that won gold in When honesty doesn’t cut it (top from left) Dane Boswell, James Dallinger,
(bottom from left) Daniel Quigley (cox), Paul
a world record time at the 2006 Under-23 Eventually, Dane’s defence that it was an
Gerritsen and Steven Cottle won bronze at the
World Championships in Belgium. They innocent mistake was accepted and his initial
2006 World Rowing Championships in England
followed that with bronze at the 2006 World two-year ban was reduced to two months.
Championships in the UK. The next few But the disruption effectively derailed his
years saw him selected as one of the New international rowing career for 12 months,
Zealand eight that competed at the World and after an injury-hit 2010 season, he
Rowing Cups in Amsterdam and Lucerne decided to hang up his oar and retire.
and as an Olympic reserve. For someone The engine on the tractor stalled, there
who hadn’t picked up an oar until his late Despite a philosophical approach to life, were no brakes, no steering, and Mum
teens, it was a meteoric rise. Dane still carries a lingering sense of bounced off and broke her neck. Six weeks
injustice. It’s a tough system that places before that, Mum had cancelled their life
The end of the Olympic road all the responsibility on a badly injured and cover. Dad had to work through to his late
But Dane’s Olympic rowing ambitions ended exhausted young athlete to ensure he is 70s and passed away last February.
one night when he sought treatment for not being prescribed one of more than
a severe hand infection he’d picked up 300 banned substances. “No one had had the insurance
during a gruelling trial for the 2008 Rowing conversation with enough conviction with
NZ summer squad. “From my side of things, I felt like I’d done my parents to ensure they had enough
everything right. It was really difficult to hear cover in place. Now it’s my job to make sure
“I had an infection from a blister underneath that I should’ve known this was a restricted Members don't end up in the same situation
a callus that caused my whole arm to substance and shouldn’t have taken it. Back and they are protected in case the worst
swell up. I couldn’t hold an oar or bend in 2008, not many of us had smartphones happens,” he says.
my fingers,” he recalls. so we weren’t able to look up the banned
03
substance list,” he says.
In pain, Dane sought treatment at a local
after-hours clinic before he could get When one door closes, another opens
in with the team doctor. Unfortunately, Dane’s advice to anyone dealing with a
alongside antibiotics, he was also given similarly tough situation is to have an idea of
probenecid, which is commonly prescribed where you want to go and work backwards
in conjunction with antibiotics to aid from there.
absorption in the bloodstream.
“When one door closes, another one
Unknown to the prescribing doctor or Dane, usually opens. If you’re willing to grasp any
probenecid can also be used as a masking new opportunities that come out of a hard
agent by drug cheats in elite sport and is time, you could end up in a pretty amazing
one of more than 300 banned substances place,” he says.
listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Dane told the doctor that he was an athlete For Dane, the door that opened was the
subject to drug testing but didn’t realise insurance industry. He says he fell in love
that the system placed the onus on him – with the industry for deeply personal
not the doctor – to ensure he wasn’t taking reasons based on another even tougher
banned substances. life experience.
When Dane got back to his flat in Cambridge “When I was 20, my Mum passed away in
that night, he was asked to complete a an accident on our farm in Kerikeri. She sat
random drug test, which was a common on the mudguard of the tractor, and she
occurrence. and Dad headed off down the hill.
on mas the magazine for mas members 21P professional life /
workplace
Automation
in an era of COVID-19
Writer Alan Chew
Post-pandemic automation
In professional practices, labour is the biggest business cost. opportunities
The answer to improving productivity and reducing cost could be In fact, if past recessions are anything
in automation. According to MAS Member Alan Chew, founder to go by, we’re likely to see the pace
of Houston Productivity in Hamilton, an IT consultancy firm of of automation speed up in the post-
34 years that specialises in helping clients to improve productivity, COVID-19 world.
we should expect to see more automation in the workplace in the
post-COVID-19 world. A report by American market research
company Forrester said many companies
We hear a lot about how automation to reduce costs as we look for ways to are set to invest more in automation
through assembly-line robots in become more efficient and get through than in rehiring in the wake of the
industries like automotive manufacturing the coming recession. In the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
creates improvements in product quality the pandemic, many businesses are
and reduces costs, but few of us working wondering whether automation is still The report urges companies who
in the professions realise that we’re also a valid business improvement strategy. haven’t already done so to ramp up their
on the brink of a similar robotic It seems intuitive that any rise in automation plans. Indeed, Forrester
revolution. unemployment will make human labour argues that automation may become key
relatively cheaper. Businesses may also to surviving a coronavirus recession, at
Office robots aren’t as obvious as the decrease capital expenditure spending least as far as businesses are concerned.
giant mechanical arms welding and overall as a result of lost revenue during
painting in a BMW factory, but these the lockdown. Benefits of automation
robotic process automation robots Automation can be used to outsource
(RPA bots) are just as useful, processing mundane tasks to bots, allowing staff
data in settings like a medical centre
Never allow a
to focus on spending more time with
or lawyer’s office. clients. To best explain how RPA works,
good crisis to
let’s look at how one busy accident and
As with mechanical robots, RPA bots emergency medical centre is using an
go to waste. It’s
can be programmed to do the work RPA bot, dubbed Meng.
that humans normally do. These bots
an opportunity
can mimic most human-computer This practice operates with two very
interactions to carry out huge numbers efficient receptionists handling
to do the things
of error-free tasks at high volume and everything from answering phones to
speed and at very low cost. One outcome making appointments to entering data
you once thought
is that it frees staff from performing into practice management software
tedious tasks to focus on customer-based Medtech. As with many A&E clinics,
were impossible.
and value-adding activities. the flow of patients can fluctuate during
various times of the day and different
As we look at business life in the days of the week.
immediate future, it looks like Rahm Emanuel, a former Chief of Staff to
automation will become one tool President Obama. One particular process that caused a lot
in the professional business arsenal of stress on the team was the processing
of forms such as ACC45. When patients
22 winter 2020am
presented with ACC injuries, they cost-effective. This is because the cost
were handed a paper form to complete of the technology is low, the development
by hand, which was then given to the EVERY PROFESSION HAS and implementation timeline is short
receptionist to enter into the system. EXAMPLES OF TEDIOUS and the labour savings are very high.
TASKS THAT COULD BE For example, in the case of Meng, the
The issue was that at hectic times, entry OUTSOURCED TO BOTS early results show that, for every $1 spent
of forms into Medtech was delaying LIKE MENG: on the technology, the clinic is able to
receptionists from processing other save between $1.50 and $2.50 of labour.
waiting patients. This created a lot of Processing accounts payable
pressure on the reception team, at times Such savings are not atypical. A 2017
even impeding the flow of patients to Filing correspondence and article in Forbes magazine suggests that
the doctors. emails into client files intelligent automation typically results
in cost savings of 40–75%.
To resolve this issue, the practice HR on-boarding
digitised the form onto a touch screen Rahm Emanuel, a former Chief of Staff
in a kiosk. The patient enters their own Invoicing time charges to President Obama, once said, “Never
information into the form with the data allow a good crisis to go to waste. It’s an
stored in a database. Meng, the RPA bot, Reconciling bank statements opportunity to do the things you once
then autonomously extracts the data including entering direct thought were impossible.”
and punches it into Medtech. credits into client accounts
The COVID-19 crisis presents the sort
Not only has Meng totally eliminated Handling insurance claims of opportunity Emanuel had in mind.
manual data entry by clinic staff, but It poses threats to workplaces around
the accuracy of information transferred Processing applications (such the world, but at the same time, it gives
to ACC has also improved, reducing the as for course enrolments) us the chance to rethink the way we do
time the practice manager spends on things. Automation may not be the right
rectifying data errors. move for every business, but as we look
to carry out more tasks with diminishing
Of the numerous automation tools that resources, it opens up new possibilities
I have studied, RPA is one of the most for the way we work.
on mas the magazine for mas members 23G greater good /
member profile
lock
Life in The COVID-19 lockdown might have brought large
parts of the New Zealand economy to a halt and
confined most of our population indoors, but for
many MAS Members, the lockdown was a chance
down
to help their communities and those on the
frontline of the pandemic response in other ways.
for MAS Members
Bulls flying doctor Dave Baldwin (inset) flew COVID-19 swabs to be tested in
Christchurch as lockdown resulted in a cancellation of commercial flights
When Bulls GP and flying doctor Dave Baldwin “It was a very good experience because it
got the call that his help was needed in the meant that I could help in an unusual way.
fight against COVID-19, he flew at the chance. It also meant I was able to be part of the
team, and that’s all I want.”
It was early in the lockdown, and regional
testing for COVID-19 wasn’t yet available in Dave has a long history of working as a flying
DAVE BALDWIN Manawatū. When Air New Zealand halted doctor, having spent three years as a doctor in
Flying in
its regional flights, Dave stepped in to help. the Royal New Zealand Air Force before buying
the general practice in Bulls with colleague
to help the
Using his small Cessna plane, he flew an and friend Ken Young. Dave simultaneously
urgent shipment of about 120 swabs from set up the Bulls Flying Doctor Service, and
fight against
Palmerston North to an airfield just south for the past few decades, he has been flying
of Rangiora in Canterbury. From there, the medical supplies and providing treatment in
COVID-19
swabs were whisked to a lab in Christchurch remote communities across the country.
to be tested for COVID-19.
24 winter 2020MAS Member Malcolm Dacker was part of Palmerston Dental Surgery, says there was no
a team of volunteers offering emergency option other than the strict restrictions.
dental care during the lockdown.
“Any oral health practitioners can understand
Out of 281 dentist chairs in the University of why we couldn’t pick up a drill, which causes
Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry in the Clinical a huge aerosol at high speed that’s dealing
Services Building, the risk of COVID-19 directly where the virus comes out of –
transmission meant just two to four were the mouth.”
occupied at any one time with patients
during the lockdown. But this didn’t make it any less difficult for
Malcolm and the other dentists involved to
Ministry of Health and Dental Council turn people away on the phone when they
MALCOLM DACKER guidelines for alert level 3 and 4 stipulated didn’t meet the treatment criteria and having
Emergency
dentists couldn’t use drills. This technology a lack of treatment options available for
generates considerable aerosol and greatly those who could be seen.
dental care
increases the risk of transmission, which
meant no fillings or root canals. Instead, “It’s not a nice thing to turn people away for
during
dentists were only able to treat trauma stuff we’d usually treat them for. There were
and undertake extractions when it was limits on what we could do, and we had to
lockdown
determined to be absolutely necessary. talk to patients who weren’t sore enough
about coming back two weeks later where
Throughout lockdown, a team of about 40 they had progressed to the point where their
dentists, dental assistants and administration pain wasn’t controllable.”
staff volunteered at the Faculty of Dentistry
to meet the emergency dental needs of “Most patients were very honest with their
Dunedin residents, with a limited range of level of pain and infection and were very
treatment options for about 12 patients a day. understanding if we wouldn’t treat them.”
Dunedin dentist Malcolm Dacker, full-time Malcolm says that, while there were tough
professional practice fellow in undergraduate times, he is proud of the work they did to
oral surgery at the Faculty of Dentistry and keep the worst infections and trauma
part-time general dental practitioner at under control.
>>
An important mission the swabs to Christchurch the following day. On Saturday
Dave says that, before regional laboratories With little time to delay, he flew into action,
were established, the country was organising clearance from traffic control, at 12pm, the
scrambling to provide the government submitting his flight plan and preparing his
with good statistics by ramping up testing Cessna for the flight. big blue box of
for COVID-19. The test samples – both throat
swabs and nasopharyngeal – needed to be Since then, testing has been set up in swabs was put in
processed in the lab as quickly as possible, Manawatū, eliminating the need for further
so being unable to transport them on trips, but Dave would gladly have continued the plane and I
commercial airlines became a huge problem to help had he been needed. •
for the MidCentral District Health Board. was goneburger.
The morning after Air New Zealand Dr Dave Baldwin
announced it was stopping regional flights,
Dave was called and asked to urgently get
on mas the magazine for mas members 25G
Between them, the social networking to accept the money”. Instead, the more
began, and within seven days, there than $100,000 raised was used to help
were 6,000 people supplied with shields get shields out to those who otherwise
across New Zealand, with a further 20,000 couldn’t access them.
ordered. At the height of the pandemic, up
to 10,000 shields were being printed each Christine says wearing the shields helped
day by 500 volunteers. remove the scariness and impersonal
nature of doctors wearing facemasks as it
02
These were supplied free of charge to allows people to see their doctors’ full faces.
GPs, paramedics, pharmacists, carers
and any other essential workers who “A colleague said their daughter said she A colleague said
requested them. wasn’t so scared of the monsters in masks,
and it meant we weren't transmitting their daughter
“It was absolutely crazy organising that,” among our work bubble,” she says.
Christine says. said she wasn’t
It also meant that, if carers did need to
The shields cost about $1 each in materials wear a facemask underneath, they could so scared of
to create, and a Givealittle page was set be reused as they hadn’t been directly
up to help fund the costs for the owners exposed to potentially infectious people the monsters
of the 3D printers, but the “kind people or come into contact with any other
who are choosing to create them refused potentially infectious items. • in masks.
01 / Paraparaumu GP Christine Coulter wears a shield to treat patients during lockdown Dr Christine Coulter
02 / Shields Up provided face shields to frontline healthcare workers across the country
An initiative by medical students based at times, and it’s really nice to see everyone
Southland Hospital has seen almost 1,000 showing support for healthcare.
coffees donated to hospital workers by the
local community. “It’s sad that it takes a worldwide pandemic
to do that, but it’s really cool to see people
Brad Atkinson, a final year medical student recognising that different sectors of the
from Otago University, saw a similar initiative community and society are a lot more
in Dunedin and decided to replicate it in important than we previously thought.”
Invercargill. Together with the six other
medical students based at Southland Brad says Compass Group was very
Hospital, they worked with the hospital’s supportive of the idea, donating $500
café owners Compass Group to set up a to get the project up and running.
donation option through their new online
BRAD ATKINSON ordering system. “They were already working on setting up an
Coffee shouts
online ordering system for staff to buy coffees
During alert level 4, almost 1,000 coffees and meals, so they took the bull by the horns
for Southland
have been paid for by members of the public and added an option to donate a coffee.”
for healthcare workers at the hospital –
healthcare
a total of over $4,000. Those wanting to donate a coffee to
a Southland healthcare worker can visit:
workers
“It’s awesome I’m really stoked to see the food-4me.co.nz/locations/52/details
community knit together in these tough
on mas the magazine for mas members 27You can also read
