Summer Learning Journey - Week 3 - Day 4

Activity 1: Medical Mavericks [4 points]

Over the years, many important discoveries have been made by clever people looking to help others. Two of these are women - Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie whose work has been widely recognised and appreciated. Both women lived extraordinary lives.

Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 in England. When she grew up, she trained to be a nurse and, as an adult, was sent to Turkey during the Crimean War to look after wounded soldiers. When she arrived, the hospitals were very dirty so she spent money to clean them up and to provide the soldiers with quality care. She saved many lives.

Marie Curie was born in Poland in 1867. Eventually, she moved to France to go to university. While there, she learned a lot about physics, chemistry and maths. She spent her career conducting experiments that led to the discovery of chemical elements. She was also the first person to use an x-ray machine to look at the human body. She earned two Nobel Prizes for her work.

Nobel Prizes are given out every year to people who have done something extraordinary in six specific fields of study - Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economics.

I have chosen Oliver Hart and Benj Holmstrom. They won their Nobel Prize in 2016. The prize for economic science in memory of Alfred Nobel. They won it because of their contribution/participation in the contract theory.

Activity 2: iMoko [4 points]

Dr Lance O’Sullivan is a Māori doctor who lives in Kaitaia, Northland. He has committed his life to improving the health and well-being of both his patients and people in the local community. In 2014 he was named New Zealander of the Year.

Together, Lance and his wife, Tracy, have started some very cool projects in New Zealand including affordable clinics, the Kāinga Ora (healthy homes) initiative and the MOKO Foundation. The MOKO Foundation provides healthcare for students in school-based clinics. He has also started iMOKO, a digital initiative (programme) whereby people living in communities without doctors, can take photos of health issues and send them to doctors in Kaitaia. The doctors look at the photos, provide advice and can send a script to the local pharmacy so that the patient can get medicine. This programme is improving the health and well-being of people living in rural Northland.

1. We eat vegetables.

2.  We eat fruit.

3. We get a lot of sleep each night.

4. We eat meat (Which makes you strong)

5. We drink a lot of water

Activity 3: Putting Our Heads Together [6 points]

Health is a complex and complicated topic. Most people believe that there are many dimensions (areas) of health - physical health, social health, mental health, emotional health, etc. Mental health is an area that is not often discussed. It is basically the way we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us. Sometimes our mental health can be affected by things that have happened in our lives, or by changes in our brains that we cannot control.

Here in New Zealand, people like Mike King and John Kirwan have made the choice to speak publicly about the mental health challenges that they face. Overseas, people like The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have joined the discussion about mental health and, like John and Mike, started a foundation to support people struggling with mental health challenges.

John Kirwan started the John Kirwan Foundation in 2018. Mike King founded The Key to Life Foundation, the I Am Hope and the Gumboot Friday campaigns while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge started the Heads Together foundation in 2017. In each case, these foundations serve an important role in the community.