'You've done magic on my feet': Trainee healthcare workers fight diabetes amputations
Two women in New Zealand are training as the country's first footcare assistants to help manage the region's high rate of diabetes-related complications. This program aims to reduce the burden on podiatrists and prevent amputations by providing essential foot care to at-risk patients.
Why it matters
Innovative workforce training models can address healthcare shortages and improve patient outcomes in underserved communities facing chronic disease epidemics.
Two Northland women have gone from struggling to find work to fighting the region's diabetes epidemic.
Christine Hape and Hineataahua Brown are training to become New Zealand's first "footcare assistants", working alongside podiatrists to help prevent amputations from diseases like diabetes.
Hape hadn't planned on working with feet when she moved to Northland.
"I'm loving it," she laughed. "I didn't realise how much I love feet.
"Why I love it is just seeing our whānau stand up and say, 'Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm walking on a cloud. Oh, you've done magic on my feet'. Tthat's pretty heartwarming for myself."
The former special-needs teacher was looking for caregiving work, when the Ngāti Hine Health Trust approached her with an unexpected opportunity.
The clinic is the first in the country to hire and train footcare assistants, a new qualification aimed at preventing diabetes-related amputations.
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