Speakers

Session 1

Hayley Wolters

Hayley Wolters contracted COVID in March 2020. While navigating COVID and then long COVID while working a demanding job, she connected with other “Long Haulers” on their own experiences of navigating employment. Long COVID impacts 1 in 10 at least, and there is swiftly growing recognition from experts and policymakers that the impact to the workforce is widespread – and that policy is needed. Hayley is asking for employers to consider the very real impacts of COVID-19 and long COVID, and advocates for provisions like remote working to be available. “If there is one thing this experience has taught me, it’s the value of looking to the future – any employer doing that, and making plans to adjust is one step ahead of the curve.”

Dr Mona Jeffreys

Mona is a senior research fellow in epidemiology at the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC). She trained at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MSc) and Bristol University (PhD). She then worked at the Centre for Public Health Research at Massey University (Wellington) as Senior Lecturer in Public Health. After another period at Bristol University, as Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, she returned to Wellington, and is employed at the HSRC, working on projects around access to primary health care. Her current projects are "Primary Health Care Programme", specifically addressing “What Works, for Whom, and in What Contexts to Support Changes in Primary Health Care Service Delivery?” and "Causes and consequences of barriers to primary health care. An analysis of the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort."

David Hood

For the course of the pandemic David Hood has been summarising publicly available data and trends about the current state of COVID in New Zealand. These are available to the public at https://thoughtfulnz.quarto.pub/nzcovidreport/

Freya Sawbridge

Freya Sawbridge is a 29-year-old Long Covid advocate and the content manager for the Long Covid Support Aotearoa website. She caught a mild case of Covid in March 2020 and suffered from Long Covid for eight months before recovering. She graduated with a LLB from the University of Otago in 2018 and currently works as a Ranger on Motuihe Island for the Department of Conservation.

Session 2

Professor Paula Lorgelly

Professor Paula Lorgelly has a Chair in Health Economics at the University of Auckland, a joint post between the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (School of Population Health; Health Systems) and School of Business (Department of Economics). She recently repatriated from the UK and it is there that she became involved in long COVID research. She is an investigator on a large NIHR-funded consortium study which seeks to understand long COVID, how to diagnose it, and how to treat and manage the condition (STIMULATE-ICP). She also leads a EuroQol funded study exploring the validating of the EQ-5D as a tool to measure HRQoL. In Aotearoa New Zealand she has funding to develop a long COVID registry in order to examine the symptoms, quality of life and economic burden of the condition.

Esther Woodbury

Dr Esther Woodbury is a disabled disability researcher, advisor and advocate from Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara. Esther currently works as Lead Advisor to the Disability Rights Commissioner at Te Kahui Tika Tāngata, New Zealand Human Rights Commission. (The role of Te Kāhui Tika Tāngata is to promote and protect the human rights of all people. Disability-specific human rights require monitoring and systemic advocacy on disabled people being treated fairly, with respect, and free from ableism.)

Scout Barbour-Evans

Scout Barbour-Evans (they/them/ia, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa) is a parent, consultant, and lived-experience advocate in Ōtepoti Dunedin. They hold a Bachelor of Leadership for Change from Otago Polytechnic and are well regarded in advocacy spaces for their use of personal narrative and lived experience as tools, in particular in Māori, disability and rainbow spaces. Since Scout contracted long covid in April 2022, they have advocated - not tirelessly, but rather boldly wearing their exhaustion on their sleeve - for better access to support services for people with not only Long Covid, but other long term health conditions as well. In their spare time Scout is a single parent to a frightfully clever four-year-old and whichever insects or small animals the child has brought home this week.

Dawn Duncan

Dawn Duncan teaches primarily in labour law at University of Otago. Dawn has practiced employment law in New Zealand and Australia, and has acted for individuals, unions, and large employers in a number of sectors. She completed her PhD at Victoria University of Wellington in 2019, her thesis proposing a new model for the compensation of work-related health problems in the ACC scheme.

Session 3

Shelly Sydney

Shelly is the National Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager for Airways Corporation, with experience in roles spanning health, safety and wellbeing, emergency management and operations within the aviation industry and the New Zealand Police. Shelly’s motivation to work for Airways was due to their strong reputation for safety and people focus and this continues today. This has enabled Shelly to build on the framework of Airway’s integrated safety management system, maturing safety improvement through system and process development and collaborative internal and external relationships and most recently, managing Airways response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelly’s future focus is to enable and support Airway’s management of psychosocial risk.

Catherine Epps

Catherine has held senior leadership roles in public and private healthcare organisations for over a decade. Catherine started at WorkSafe in November 2018, and before that was Executive Director Allied Health, Scientific and Technical at Capital and Coast District Health Board. In addition to her General Manager role, Catherine led WorkSafe's response to COVID-19. Catherine's leadership experience was informed by her clinical expertise as a Speech-language Therapist specialising in neuro rehabilitation; including supporting those with brain injuries to return to work. As a result, Catherine has interests in how our work can be designed so that it supports people to be healthy and thrive - particularly when people have diverse needs.

Paul Jarvie

Paul is a Manager of Employment Relations and Safety. His role involves advocacy regarding employment, ageing population and the workforce, ACC and other matters. He comes from a medical background and is very focused on safety through safe design as well as improving the business climate to enhance productivity and workplace wellbeing.

Dr Cathy Stephenson

Dr Cathy Stephenson is a Wellington based GP, who grew up on a beautiful farm in the middle of Yorkshire. In her clinical role, she supports rangatahi as part of the wonderful team at The 502 Rangatahi Ora in Porirua. In 2022 Cathy took up the role of Principal Health Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development, where she hopes to play a small role in supporting New Zealanders to thrive and live their best lives. She is passionate about educating and informing patients and colleagues, and has authored columns on health and well-being for many years on Stuff, in New Zealand Doctor and via other forums. Cathy has partnered with the team at M.E. Awareness over the years, delivering presentations, webinars and podcasts on ME/CFS, and is keen to ensure that the medical profession use the knowledge gleaned from this population group to inform the approach to those living with long COVID”.

Dr Nick Loveridge-Easther

Dr Nick is a GP based out of the coastal Taranaki town of Oakura. He trained in Rural Hospital Medicine before venturing into General Practice. He is the clinical director of Coastal Medical Limited which operates a network of 3 rural general practices in Oakura, Opunake and Stratford as well as a Subspecialist Skin and Vein service (Skin on Forty-Five) and an Occupational Health medical and nursing service (OH Direct). Coastal Medical are working to create a hub and spoke based medical network to supply a comprehensive primary and subspeciality service for the population of Taranaki.... when the surf is flat.

Sarah Dalton

Sarah Dalton is Executive Director at the Union for Senior Doctors and Dentists – Toi Mata Hauora ASMS – a role she’s held since 2020. She has worked for health and education unions since 2008, before which she was a secondary school teacher.

Session 4

Kate Duder

I have over 20 years’ experience working in the not-for-profit and community sector internationally and within New Zealand. The majority of my career has been focused on managing and facilitating strategic, organisational, and community development projects and programmes. I developed ME in my early 20s after a viral illness and experienced a significant crash in 2017 that left me unable to work. I have since built up my health and work part-time Managing ME Auckland, whose mahi is to provide support, advocacy and community connection to those with ME/CFS and Long COVID. I have recently started my own business providing infrared sauna and red light therapy services in West Auckland and have spent a lot of time researching lifestyle management options for post-viral and chronic illnesses.

Amanda Kvalsvig

Dr Amanda Kvalsvig has a dual background in clinical paediatrics and epidemiology, and is a Research Associate Professor in the Department. Her research activities currently have a strong focus on New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; she is the lead researcher of Co-Search, a COVID-19 research collaborative led by Professor Michael Baker. She is also lead researcher of SYMBIOTIC, a newly-funded HRC programme led by Michael Baker which aims to investigate the two-way relationships between infectious disease and long-term conditions.

Dr Denise Quinlan

Dr Denise Quinlan is co-Founder of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, creator of user-friendly programmes focused on resilience, wellbeing and coping with loss. Denise has worked with thousands of business and education professionals throughout NZ and around the world. A regular presenter at national and international wellbeing conferences, Dr Quinlan’s research is published in international academic journals and edited volumes. Denise’s award-winning podcast, 'Bringing Wellbeing to Life', includes a series dedicated to coping with loss and features leading researchers and practitioners from around the world. Follow her work at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdenisequinlan-wellbeing/

Dr Sarah Rhodes

Sarah is a cardio-respiratory physiotherapist and lecturer at the School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago. She is a researcher in the area of long COVID and is an advocate for raising awareness of the condition. Sarah's other research interests include sleep health, health promotion, behaviour change and physical activity. She is Secretary of the Physiotherapy New Zealand cardio-respiratory special interest group and Treasurer and Allied Health representative on the Thoracic Society (TSANZ) New Zealand branch Executive committee.

Dr Paul Vroegop

Dr Paul Vroegop is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Specialist Pain Medicine Physician at Counties Manukau Health in Auckland. He is Clinical Lead of the Chronic Pain Service and works in the Paediatric Consult Liaison Team at Middlemore Hospital. He also works in the Northland DHB and is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Auckland. He is interested in the psychological and social aspects of health, and in improving patient and whanau experience of health care.

Emma Davidson

I am an Occupational Therapist by background, currently working as a Clinical Advisor with APM. We are a national rehabilitation provider of Health and Employment services. My background is varied but predominantly in the Traumatic Brain Injury space, ranging across the spectrum of severity and rehabilitation setting – mild to severe, community to residential; with Vocational Rehabilitation and other major ACC contracts alongside this.

Session 5

Associate Professor Matire Harwood - Ngāpuhi

Matire (MBChB, PhD) is a hauora Māori academic and GP dividing her time across the Department of General Practice and Primary Care at Auckland medical school, where she is HoD, and Papakura Marae Health Clinic in South Auckland. She has served on a number of Boards and Advisory Committees including Waitematā DHB, Health Research Council, ACC (Health Services advisory group), COVID-19 TAG at the Ministry of Health and the Steering Committee for the appointment of Te Aka Whai Ora. In 2022 she received the College of GPs Community Service Medal.

Tamara Devcich

Tamara Devcich is the Health, Safety and Wellness Advisor at Sistema Plastics. She has over 15 years’ experience in Health and Safety across the Manufacturing and Retails sectors both in New Zealand and the UK. She led the Sistema COVID Response Team as they navigated the business through the COVID-19 Alert Level System and COVID Protection Framework. The Response Team developed a robust COVID management system and were able to share their practices with other Manufacturing facilities in New Zealand and abroad. Tamara was also involved in the management of positive COVID cases on site including their isolation periods and return to work. She has a passion for proactive rehabilitation and return to work practices which focus on the person and their individual needs.

Dr Nicola Emslie

Dr Nicola Emslie is a doctor at Middlemore Hospital who specialises in Occupational Medicine. Her role involves supporting staff members whose work is impacting on their health, or whose health is impacting on their work. Over the last year she has been helping several health care workers at Middlemore who are experiencing long covid symptoms. Dr Emslie feels it is a privileged role, caring for the staff who provide care for others.

Fy Dunford

Fy is a Cardiorespiratory (CR) Physiotherapist with over 30 years’ experience. In the last 3 years Fy has been involved with education around long COVID management, presenting locally within her region and nationally, as part of the Physiotherapy New Zealand (PNZ) Cardio-respiratory special interest group (CRSIG). Fy has been clinically working with acute and long COVID patients across ED, wards, community and COVID test centres. Fy represented PNZ CRSIG in both Ministry of Health and Allied Health Aotearoa New Zealand COVID working groups and was awarded Life membership to PNZ for services to CR physiotherapy in 2021. Fy has been instrumental in championing the needs of affected (former) DHB staff in the Taranaki region and driving the development of a long Covid service to support them.

Rachael Grady

Rachael is an Occupational Therapist currently specialising in neurological rehabilitation, she currently delivers the Occupational Therapy input within Te Whatu Ora Taranaki’s long COVID staff clinic. Rachael has over thirty years’ experience in a range of health settings including acute mental health, crisis intervention, persistent pain, physical and neurological rehabilitation. Since the start of the COVID-19 response Rachael has been proactive at a local level in developing staff and client resources, educating staff and increasing her own knowledge base. She has been part of the multidisciplinary team developing service pathways and resources for long COVID in response to the identified need for additional resources at a local level. Rachael strongly believes Allied Health Professions have essential roles to play in the response to COVID 19 at all stages and is a strong advocate for the promotion and delivery of Occupational Therapy within service design.

Ben Teusse

Ben Teusse (MHPrac, BPHTY) is the Chief Executive of Habit Health and has practiced as a Physiotherapist for over 20 years, within Occupational Health, Vocational Rehabilitation, Pain Management and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy. Habit Health currently provide return to work services for those who live with enduring impacts of COVID-19 under both public and private funding models. This session will outline strategies to best support people back to optimal function.

Richard Klipin

A financial services industry leader with extensive experience in transforming the sector in both New Zealand and Australia. As CEO of Financial Services Council, Richard has led change and growth for peak industry associations, as well as in executive roles with major banks and insurance companies. He is a skilled community builder across the sector, engaging with diverse industry stakeholders to contribute to shaping government policy and regulatory outcomes. He is a key spokesperson for the industry with government, media and consumers. He also holds governance roles, and is currently a non-Executive Director of Trustees Executors Limited and Chair of their Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee.

Session 6

Johnathon Burgess

Jonathan specialises in communicating complex academic work to a public audience. He currently looks after communications for Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems. Over his career he has worked in communications, media liaison, social media and content design. Jonathan is a recognised leader in publishing web content at the University of Auckland and has created and managed content for the Faculty of Arts, Te Tumu Herenga Libraries and Learning Services, and Te Pūnaha Matatini.

Dominic Kelly

Dominic Kelly worked for 20 years as a software developer, working mainly in retail and investment banking, in New Zealand, London and Tokyo. He returned to New Zealand in 2009 to start Hashigo Zake, a bar in Wellington that has aimed to cater for consumers of beer with more care and attention than had ever been the case in New Zealand.

Stuart Ekdahl

Dr Stuart Ekdahl is a fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care and co-founded the White Cross chain of Accident and Medical Clinics. He lead Covid teams at Auckland Regional Public Health. He is the Medical Director of The Covid Safety Pledge NZ which is a framework that businesses and other organisations can adopt to suppress virus transmission.

Leah Hackney

Leah is a Registered Nurse at Canterbury DHB, currently working as Team Lead for the CDHB/WCDHB Return to Work Team. This team has a focus on supporting health care workers who have been affected by COVID-19. Leah has a background in Intensive Care and has more recently worked as an Associate Charge Nurse Manager in Manged Isolation and Quarantine in Christchurch. Her recently completed research focused on psychological coping and its relationship to burnout, bullying and psychological distress in nursing staff.

Hayley Wolters

Hayley Wolters contracted COVID in March 2020. While navigating COVID and then long COVID while working a demanding job, she connected with other “Long Haulers” on their own experiences of navigating employment. Long Covid impacts 1 in 10 at least, and there is swiftly growing recognition from experts and policymakers that the impact to the workforce is widespread – and that policy is needed. Hayley is asking for employers to consider the very real impacts of Covid-19 and Long Covid, and advocates for provisions like remote working to be available. “If there is one thing this experience has taught me, it’s the value of looking to the future – any employer doing that, and making plans to adjust is one step ahead of the curve.”