Bringing home new perspectives: Nursing student learns about Indigenous community health in New Zealand
Nursing student Jordan Braun was already at the end of his degree program when he departed for an international mobility experience to New Zealand, but it turned out to be the perfect cap to his undergraduate education. This program brought six Indigenous nursing students to Whitireia New Zealand, a school in the city of Porirua which offers a Bachelor of Nursing Māori program. This specialised program is built around a framework of Indigenous approaches to healthcare in New Zealand, and University of Manitoba students came to collaborate and learn about how other cultures integrate Indigenous perspectives into healthcare and what that could mean for nursing education back home. As Braun describes it, “the overarching idea is – let’s go over there, see what they’re doing, and then see what we can learn, share, and bring back home.”
The experience was part of the Pathway to Indigenous Nursing Education (PINE) program at the UM, collaborating with researcher Dr. Wanda Phillips-Beck and the International Centre (IC), which oversees all international mobility experiences for students. The IC was instrumental in arranging the program, particularly with regards to funding.
At Whitireia, Braun and his peers joined nursing classes, engaged in group discussions, and participated in activities where they could learn from Māori community members. One activity that stands out for Braun was going out on the water in wakas ¬– a type of Māori boat – where they received teachings about traditional ways of navigation and the environment around them. According to Braun, their hosts reciprocated their eagerness to learn:
“Everyone was super nice and welcoming and wanted us there, you know? And very happy to share space and excited to learn from us as much as we were from them, because it’s like new people are pulling up from the other side of the world, like, ‘what are you guys up to?’”
The experience also exposed Braun to new innovations in nursing that resonated with his values in community-based healthcare. In particular, he recalls how their use of take-home medical testing alternatives to in-clinic care responded to some community members’ distrust of the mainstream healthcare system. “That was one important day for me,” he remembers, elaborating that this kind of practise supports are a “way of fighting for health equity” that he is passionate about.
However, community health and equity were not always Braun’s focus. Rather, he attributes his interest to his education at UM and the broadened perspective he has gained thought it over the past few years. Before university, he was unsure of what to pursue but followed his people-oriented nature and desire to help. Braun recalls learning through his practicum:
“… You work with the public, and you’re like, ‘oh, these are all of the different lives that are possible,’ and I am now aware of it, and I’m now working with these people, and I am now part of and privy to their pain … It changed my values a lot throughout three years of nursing school, for sure.”
Now, he is invested in working on upstream change in community health, mitigating risk factors and responding to community needs before they turn into crises. Travelling to New Zealand to discover a new world of possibilities in community health approaches was the perfect cap to those years of learning. Since completing the nursing program, he is taking those insights with him into his career. Looking to the future, Braun sees himself “continue to be driven by that want for health equity and working with other people that have the same vision and passion for it.”
Braun also learned a bit about himself along the way. Embarking on such a major excursion made him realise how much he values the company of others and sharing experiences like this with them. He recalls, “my values had kind of shifted,” as he replaced a more individualistic outlook by realizing “people are kind of my main priority.” Furthermore, this experience spurred him to begin considering new potential directions for his career:
“One other thing that came from the trip is I had never considered a masters [degree] before, and after working and seeing what a nursing researcher does … it seems like if I want to work for bigger systemic changes, then that’s a route I would have to go down … and that’s something that was like 100% off the table prior to the trip.”
Ultimately, whether looking internally or externally, to the past or to the future, going to New Zealand as part of the PINE program was hugely impactful for Braun. In his words, the experience made him “reflect on a lot about my Indigenous identity, where I come from, where I see myself going, and my place in nursing as an Indigenous nurse.”
If you are interested in incorporating this kind of immersive learning experience into your degree, look no further than the International Centre. Their mobility team is singularly focused on connecting students with global experiences, supporting them along the way, and ensuring they are accessible to all.