Lance O'Sullivan (doctor)

Lance O'Sullivan (born 1973) is a New Zealand Māori doctor (Te Rarawa, Ngati Hau, Ngati Maru[1]) practising in Kaitaia, Northland. He was declared New Zealander of the Year 2014[2] for bringing health programmes to disadvantaged in rural areas.[3]

Early life

O'Sullivan was born in Auckland and received his senior secondary education as a boarder at Hato Petera College. He has stated, in respect of this: "Having attended a Maori Catholic boarding school, I realised the importance of faith. I regained important values that I lost. Those values underpinned my work in helping those in need. I guess these comes through from the aspect of my Catholic upbringing."[3] He graduated in Medicine at the University of Auckland.[4]

Career and health programmes

O'Sullivan and his wife, Tracy, set up the low-cost health clinic "Te Kohanga Whakaora" (The Nest of Wellness) to make basic healthcare accessible for people in the Far North. He has stated: "I see people on a daily basis who can't afford to see me, who can't afford to pay for their medications. We have emergency prescription funds donated to our clinic from New Zealanders around the country who heard about us". O'Sullivan also set up the "Manawa Ora Korokoro Ora (Moko) programme", Northland's first full-time, school-based health clinic, providing medical care to 2000 children across the region, as well as the "Kainga Ora (Well Home) initiative", which promotes the idea of fixing rundown homes, as he believes that wellness begins in safe warm homes.[3] Dr Lance is also the developer of the vMOKO medical app, that helps to deal with medical issues as they are found from any location in New Zealand.

On May 23, 2017, O'Sullivan climbed onto the stage at a screening of the anti-vaccine propaganda film Vaxxed in Kaitaia, New Zealand and criticised the movie. He told the audience:

"This idea of anti-immunisation has killed children around the world, and actually will continue to kill children whose parents are put off immunisation because of misinformation - misinformation based on lies, quite frankly."[5][6]

His action has been supported by the New Zealand Health Minister Jonathan Coleman.[5]

Awards

O'Sullivan was declared New Zealander of the Year 2014 for his work on rural health projects, and Cameron Bennett, chief judge of the awards, said "Lance O'Sullivan's passion, drive and unwavering commitment to eradicating poverty related illnesses are exactly the kind of qualities we look for."[7] O'Sullivan was named supreme Maori of the Year in 2013,[8] as well as winning in the Health category, and has been awarded a Sir Peter Blake Trust leadership award, and a public health champion award.[9][10] In 2014, he was named the second most trusted New Zealander by Readers Digest.[11] In 2015 he was named Communicator of the Year.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Interview with Dr Lance O'Sullivan", He Manawa Tahi Koiora Tini. (Retrieved 22 April 2014)
  2. ↑ Peter Meecham, "Doctor named New Zealander of the Year", Dominion Post, 26 February 2014, p. 1. (Retrieved 22 April 2014)
  3. 1 2 3 "Catholic Doctor Lance O'Sullivan Honoured", NZ Catholic, 29 March 2014, p. 1. (Retrieved 22 April 2014)
  4. ↑ Amanda Cameron, "Lance O'Sullivan: The long journey home", NZ Doctor, 12 July 2006. (Retrieved 22 April 2014)
  5. 1 2 "Vaxxed: Health Minister Jonathan Coleman backs doctor's stance". newshub.co.nz. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Robertson, Heidi. "The Raw Skeptic Report at 7:28". skepticzone.tv (Podcast). The Skeptic Zone. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Kaitaia GP Lance O'Sullivan named New Zealander of the Year". 27 February 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Kaitaia doctor Lance O'Sullivan Maori of the Year". 8 February 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "GP Dr Lance O'Sullivan gets chance to be Kiwi of year". 21 January 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Dr Lance O’Sullivan - New Zealander of the Year". 27 February 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  11. ↑ Balvert-O’Connor, Monique (July 2014). "Trusted People 2014". Readers Digest. Reader's Digest. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Another title for Dr Lance O'Sullivan". New Zealand Herald. 2015-08-20. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
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