Couple a shining example to all our whanau and tamariki

PICTURE/PETRINA HODGSON

Kaitaia GP Dr Lance O'Sullivan, New Zealander of the Year 2014, was characteristically quick to share the honour bestowed upon him when he was feted by friends and medical colleagues at Kaitaia Hospital last week.

And while he had now won four major awards in 12 months - 2013's Maori of the Year, Public Health Champion and a Sir Peter Blake Trust leadership award - it wasn't getting any easier.

"I was sitting here waiting to speak, feeling more nervous than a roomful of past and present prime ministers," he said when it was finally his turn to reply on Friday evening.

"I'm immensely proud of what this means to our people, and when I say that I mean not only Maori, but as a Far Northerner and a New Zealander," he added.

"If there's one thing to come from this it's that our tamariki see that we are able to do it. I am really proud to bring this taonga back to our home. This is something for the whole community to be proud of, and I just want to say thank you. This is an award for all of us. I am really proud to be the bearer of this taonga at this time."

Dr O'Sullivan had been named New Zealander of the Year at a function in Auckland on Wednesday, in recognition of a series of initiatives aimed at improving the health of Far North Maori and children. Those initiatives included low-cost/free medical clinics, the school-based Manawa Ora Korokoro Ora (MOKO) programme, designed to detect the throat infection that, untreated, could lead to rheumatic fever, the low-cost general practice Te Kohanga Whakaora he and wife Tracey opened at Kaitaia Hospital, and the Kainga Ora (Well Home) project, which sprang from his realisation that improving people's homes was more effective in improving their health than writing prescriptions for recurring respiratory and other illnesses linked with poverty.

His efforts to promote a community approach to addressing poverty-related health and well-being issues included challenging last year's Far North mayoral and council candidates to cut the number of pokie machines in the district.

The father of seven said he was proud and motivated to be helping raise children who had a good outlook and chances, and wanted similar aims and outcomes for other Maori.

"Lance O'Sullivan's passion, drive and unwavering commitment to eradicating poverty-related illnesses are exactly the kind of qualities we look for," New Zealander of the Year chief judge Cameron Bennett said.

His citation noted that he had identified a high level of health needs in an impoverished region of New Zealand, and had set about using his skills as a medical doctor to assist the community.