The loss of Janet Maloney-Moni – the country's first Māori NP and author of a book on a kaupapa Māori nursing model of care – has saddened many in the nursing world. Nursing Review shares some words and tributes to mark the passing of a nurse whose legacy is being recognised by a new nursing scholarship.
Nursing has lost someone very special, says nurse practitioner Helen Topia on the passing of her colleague and friend Janet Maloney-Moni.
Janet's sister Hemaima Hughes, president of Te Kaunihera o ngā Neehi Māori (the National Council of Māori Nurses) says she has lost a wonderful sister and nursing has lost a trailblazer.
Her daughter Nadine Maloney, also a nurse, said her mother had been contacted during her illness by the Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance to ask permission to offer postgraduate and student scholarships under her name.
"She was very overwhelmed but thought it was great that her legacy could live on, particularly as she had a lot to do with clinical supervision and mentoring of nurses undergoing postgraduate study and who were on the nurse practitioner pathway," says Nadine.
"It was their way of acknowledging the huge changes that she made towards nursing – particularly here in the Eastern Bay of Plenty."
Helen in her tribute to Janet at the recent Nurse Practitioners New Zealand conference said she mourned the loss of "our shining star of Māori health".
"Janet had been one of the drivers of kaupapa Māori health services and of the whānau ora model of care," said Helen. "For whānau ora to be realised in mainstream services and to contribute to making a difference, we need drivers like her. That is one of the greatest losses. We have lost someone special who would have been able to further the whānau ora model and contribute to meeting the complex needs of Māori patients."
Janet was born in 1952 in Opotiki of a Māori mother (Whakatohea; Ngati Ira) and a Scottish father. She told Nursing Review in 2006 that she grew up comfortable in both cultures as she had a Māori mother exhorting her to grow up Pākehā and a Scots father who encouraged her to be proud to be Māori.
As a 17-year-old, she began her nursing career originally training as a community health nurse at Whakatane Hospital and then did a bridging programme to become a registered comprehensive nurse in 1991.
In 2000, she was one of a group of Māori nurses who successfully studied for their postgraduate diploma in disease state management. She built on her work delivering home-based chronic disease management support and primary health care to clients and their whānau in the Waikato, and in 2003, she became the country's first nurse practitioner in primary healthcare Māori.
Deborah Harris – the country's first nurse practitioner – mentored her, and she became one of the first ten nurse practitioners ever registered in New Zealand.
Her master’s degree research through the University of Auckland looked at the synergy between clinical nursing expertise and an intimacy with things Māori in her own nursing practice and why it worked for her Māori clients. The resulting thesis into kaupapa Māori nursing practice (or a nursing model of care built on Māori principles) led in turn to her book Kia Manna: A Synergy of Wellbeing a framework of a Kaupapa Maori Model of care.
Nadine says her mother's book continues to provide both educational institutions and clinical workplaces "a ‘place’ in which to locate cultural ways of practicing that empowers our indigenous people to follow treatment plans for chronic disease".
Helen says the book's "insightful and spiritually connected stories of her family and kinsmen reveals dimensions of world view Maori seldom discussed".
"It is a tribute to her life and work."
On becoming a nurse practitioner, Janet returned to Opotiki and founded Moni Nursing Services Ltd, and using her Kia Mana model of care, was funded by the Bay of Plenty District Health board to provide a rural health service to Māori in the wider Eastern Bay of Plenty, as well as some work with the Whakatohea Health Clinic.
She became a prescribing NP in 2011, and Nadine says in 2012 her mum took a 'gap year' and went to nurse in an outback aboriginal community near Coober Pedy, Australia. On her return in 2013, she worked at the Whakatohea clinic, offering general primary healthcare. At the beginning of this year, she had wanted to start offering a specialist chronic management service again, but sadly, she became ill.
Nadine says Janet passed away peacefully in August, after a short and sudden illness, surrounded by her whānau. She leaves behind her three children and five adored mokopuna.
Applications for the Janet Maloney-Moni postgraduate and nurse/medical student scholarships are now open and more information can be found at: www.ebpha.org.nz :
KUA HINGA TE TOTARA NEEHI MĀORI
Haere atu ra āku tuāhine ataahua Janet. Moe mai e hine i tou moengaroa i roto i te ringa ā tātou kaihanga.
“Farewell beautiful sister. Sleep your long sleep in the arms of our creator. Your pain and suffering have ended and we are sad that we have lost such a wonderful sister, mum, nurse, trailblazer, and friend. Although you have left us, the light of your candle burns brightly and you will never be forgotten."
Arohatinonui Hemaima me ngā hoa o Te Kaunihera o ngā Neehi Māori o Aotearoa.
