Our presenters

Alan Beasley

Alan Beasley is the Dementia Educator, Canterbury DHB

Alan Beasley’s infectious enthusiasm for quality dementia care is making its mark on Canterbury’s aged residential care (ARC) nurses and support workers.

Alan is a dementia care educator promoting Canterbury District Health Board’s (CDHB’s) Walking in Another’s Shoes education programme. He encourages people working in dementia care to consider innovative ways of looking after their patients and supporting each other.

Walking in Another’s Shoes was pioneered by English professor of psychogerontology Tom Kitwood. It is founded on the principle of putting the person with dementia at the centre of care. ‘The focus is on putting the person before the disease: valuing each person as a unique individual with specific needs and abilities that should be supported and respected. We aim to work around the person with dementia rather than have them adapt their world around our routines,’ Alan says.

Walking in Another’s Shoes offers workshops and full-day classes for ARC staff. Alan also visits rest homes and hospitals to provide on-site staff training. Participants in the programme are educated on a wide range of dementia-related topics. The programme encourages staff to work together to find solutions to challenges.

‘For example, “calling out” is a common behaviour that people working in dementia care find difficult to deal with,’ Alan says. ‘Carers can develop appropriate intervention strategies by considering what emotions are behind the behaviour and what needs aren’t being met.’

Alison Carlin

CNS Gynaecology and Colposcopy OPD

Alison Carlin’s decades of work in gynaecology have been recognised with the presentation of an NZ Gynaecological Foundation Award in recognition of her "outstanding, above and beyond" work as a clinical nurse specialist.

Ali became a registered nurse in 1981, completed midwifery in 1983, came to NZ as a midwife for a one year working holiday in 1986, stayed on and became a Clinical Nurse Specialist in 2010. Today Ali is on a clinical governance group for cervical screening, and the Northern Regional and NZ Gynaecological Cancer Groups.

Surgical Outpatients Department clinical nurse manager Beth McLean said humble, hardworking Ali has been “quite reticent” to talk about her award.

Beth said the teams Ali works with across Northland DHB, including colposcopy screening and the Outpatient departments at Kaitaia and Bay of Islands Hospitals, are all proud of Ali’s achievement and very grateful for all the hard work that she does so willingly and graciously in addressing serious illnesses which result in far too many presenting to treatment for uterine, cervical and ovarian cancer far too late.

The NZGCF Awards night doubled as a fundraiser called Getting Glam for Gynae. Ali prepared an acceptance speech for the night which raised awareness of gynaecological cancers being diagnosed too late in too many Northland women.

Ali was unable to pick up the award in person but shared the acceptance speech she asked to be read on the night:

“Kia ora from Northland,

Firstly I would like to thank Dr Ai Ling Tan for nominating me for this award.

In accepting it, I would like to acknowledge the others in our team, clinicians, booking clerks and nurses that work extremely hard, enabling women to attend appointments in Whangarei and Auckland. Working alongside these women, helping them to navigate the complex raft of tests, investigations and appointments is challenging but also rewarding.

On a more serious note, as you already know the cancer statistics for Northlanders are horrible, particularly for Māori women. We see gynae cancers diagnosed too late with subsequent poor outcomes, which is devastating news for women and their families.

Raising the profile of Gynae cancers is important. They are still very much a ‘silent’ cancer because women are too shy and embarrassed to seek help early. I was pleased to see that Erica and the NZ Gynaecology Cancer Foundation came to Whangarei this month, spreading the word about what signs and symptoms women need to look out for.”

Alistair Dunn

General practitioner

FAChAM, PGDipHealSc (Alcohol, Drugs & Addiction)

Aniva Lawrence

Dr Aniva Lawrence is a Samoan GP who has worked in Northland since 2005. S

he is married to Leroy (Nga Puhi/Ngati Maniapoto) with 3 boys. She has clinics in Paihia and Tikipunga and she is current Clinical Director with a focus on Youth and Long Term Conditions.

She has lived and experienced inequalities throughout her life through illness and premature loss of loved ones before their time and this motivates her within her leadership role to focus on this for Northland.

Ann Gentry

Smith and Nephew representative

Anna Crane

Training Manager:
Anna-Louise Crane became a Police Officer in the New Zealand Police in 1995 and had a career spanning 13 years during which she specialized in Intelligence work.

Anna then worked for both the Rodney District Council and then the Auckland Council, holding a role of Team Leader of Safety.

On leaving the Auckland Council Anna has worked with Business Associations undertaking projects and training to increase their members’ safety. She is also a licensed private investigator and has been our Senior Trainer for FearFree for just over 4 years.

Anna Fenton

FRACP

Endocrinologist

Christchurch Women’s

Hospital

Anna Sullivan

Dr Anna Sullivan has worked as a consultant in Emergency medicine since 1996 with
experience in Australia and New Zealand.
She has been working in the Emergency Department, Wellington Hospital, Wellington,
New Zealand since 2002.
Dr Sullivan has completed both the participant and facilitator Advanced and Complex
Medical Emergencies courses designed for Fellows of the Australasian College for
Emergency Medicine. These focus on understanding risks and error in medicine.
She has gained experience in adult learning as an instructor on advanced paediatric life
support courses.
Dr Sullivan has also trained new instructors on the New Zealand Advanced Paediatric Life
Support instructor courses.
Previously she was a clinical lecturer at University of Otago Wellington School of Medicine.

Anne MacGregor

Following my medical degree from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London I began training in headache medicine. Noticing an important link between the menstrual cycle and migraine, I furthered my knowledge with additional training in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare.

Current Employment

I am Honorary Professor, Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, having been Honorary Senior Lecturer since 2004. I am also a specialist in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare at Barts Sexual Health Centre and Visiting Speaker at the School of Medicine, Keele University.

Past Employment

I worked at the City of London Migraine Clinic from 1988, becoming Director of Clinical Research in 1999, until my resignation in 2011. I was responsible for all research portfolio at the City of London Migraine Clinic, writing protocols and running clinical trials of in-house research, securing research funding, ethical approval and running sponsored pharmaceutical research. I employed seven specialty doctors to run the service and was responsible for their initial and continuing training.

I ran the Menopause Clinic at St Bartholomew’s Hospital from 1993 to 2005 and was a Medical Advisor at the Margaret Pyke Memorial Trust from 1999 to 2004.

Professional Memberships

I am registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and am a member of the Institute of Clinical Research (MICR). Society memberships include the American Headache Society (AHS), Anglo-Dutch Migraine Association (ADMA), Association of Reproductive Healthcare Professionals (ARHP), North American Menopause Society (NAMS), British Menopause Society (BMS), British Pain Society (BPS), International Headache Society (IHS) and Institute of Psychosexual Medicine (IPM).

Media

I speak on radio and television and have written several features for the lay and medical popular press.

Arjun Sugumaran

Dr Arjun Sugumaran is a specialist gastroenterologist in the Northland DHB. He is also a consultant gastroenterologist and endoscopist in private practice consulting at Northland Surgical & Endoscopy in Whangarei, with procedures performed at Kensington Hospital, and at Greenlane Medical Specialists in Auckland.