Cassius Kuresa

Talofa lava my name is Cassius Kuresa, a proud Samoan, born and raised in the amazing city of Porirua.  My mum (Leulaga) and dad (Ieru) migrated to New Zealand in the early 1970s for employment reasons and also so my brother's and sister's were exposed to more opportunities and diversity.

I am married to Cherie Schirnack and we have 2 lovely children, daughter Brooke (10) and son Julius (3).  They provide me with the all the motivation that I need to succeed in life as a husband, father, friend, and health professional.  I'm a Rugby League fanatic and like to contribute and participate in grassroots sports whenever I can.   

I worked in various jobs throughout my adult life and joined the health sector back in 2000 as a Pacific youth health educator.  Helping pacific youth was my first passion when I started and led me to working in public health.  I have been very fortunate to develop new skills and knowledge through trainings, courses, and experiences in working for Public Health.  As the years have passed my roles have changed from education, to promotion, to coordinator and strategic advisor.   

I'm currently working as a Project Leader for Wellington Regional Public Health.  The Healthy Porirua Project is aimed at implementing integrated actions approach to addressing health issues in designated areas of Porirua.  Integrated actions approach includes improved coordination internally and externally, utilising a range of disciplines, and addressing issues at multiple levels.  This is very exciting project as it is initiating a new way of working for public health.

The background and research work carried out with stakeholders, organisations, and community groups working in Eastern Porirua identified the community priority health issues.  These priority health issues, which include housing, income, and access to healthy food, have now become our Healthy Porirua Project action areas.  We are working more collectively within Regional Public Health and with external stakeholders to improve health outcomes around the action areas.  We have established new activities and initiatives as well as providing more effective support for existing programmes in the communities.

The role is challenging but also provides me with the opportunity to develop my skills in Project Management.  More importantly it allows me to give back to the community and city I call home.   

Read more about Cassius's work, Symposium 2009, Global Recession part 2