Midwifery dream comes true

Margie Patelesio is living proof that dreams really do come true, thanks to our nursing and midwifery scholarship programme.

We are so proud of Margie, and we know she will make a wonderful difference in women’s lives.

Margie (above) joined Auckland Hospital’s Health Care Assistant Cadetship programme in 2016, and as one of the very first scholarship recipients, she has now successfully finished her midwifery degree. 

Margie would not have been able to realise her dream without the scholarship, which alleviated the barriers to her pursuing a career in healthcare.

Margie was born in Samoa and migrated to New Zealand as a young child.  After finishing secondary school she started work and was soon married with four children, but she always dreamed of one day becoming a midwife.  Through Margie’s hard work and determination she has completed her AUT midwifery degree with excellent grades, and she is our very first Pacific midwife scholar graduate.

The nursing and midwifery scholarship programme has grown into the Rise scholarship programme, which aims to create a future where new health professionals can rise to care for the health of all our communities.  Our Rise supporters help ambitious men and women like Margie follow their passion by providing funds that aim to remove any roadblocks throughout their healthcare education and training.

Thanks to generous donations, we can provide students with the financial, practical and emotional support they need to complete their qualification, find a job and support their whānau.  Our Rise scholarship supporters are also creating pathways into health careers for Māori and Pacific people, helping to build a stronger and more diverse nursing and midwifery workforce.

Nurse Educator, Pacific Health & Workforce Development, Augustina Reid says Margie’s experience as a Samoan woman and a mother brings a unique richness and knowledge that she believes will make her an outstanding midwife.  “We are so proud of Margie, and we know she will make a wonderful difference in women’s lives.”

The Auckland Hospital Foundation is proud to work with our scholarship supporters who are enabling passionate individuals like Margie to meet their potential as nurses and midwives, which wouldn’t otherwise be possible without their generosity.

For more information about the Rise scholarship programme, please click here.