Ryman Times
Gordon MacLeod and Dave Sevilleno
Dave, Amor, Caleb and Sha undrei Sevilleno at their citizenship ceremony with Christchurch Mayor Lian ne Dalziel
Speaking up for overseas workers Dave Sevilleno has had a busy few months. Just as he was preparing to celebrate a significant personal milestone – becoming a New Zealand citizen nine years after he arrived in New Zealand – he shot to national prominence as a spokesman for the migrant community on New Zealand’s biggest news website – Stuff.co.nz. Dave spoke out about his concerns around proposed changes to New Zealand’s immigration settings. The changes, which included a one year stand down for staff who had been in New Zealand for three years, were concerning his team, and might put off other immigrant workers coming to New Zealand. Dave was speaking from experience. His story provides a great insight into how much immigrant workers have to offer New Zealand. When Dave arrived back in 2008 he spent three months living in a run down one-bedroom unit with up to nine other workers from the Philippines. A qualified nurse back in the Philippines, Dave took a bus around Christchurch knocking on doors to try and find a job, and was getting increasingly worried about his future. “I was desperate to get a job. I went everywhere to knock on doors and drop in my CV. And then my friend phoned to say she’d taken a job, but she knew there was one going at Anthony Wilding. I was interviewed and I got the job. It was pure luck.’’ Fast forward to 2017 and Dave runs the special care unit at Diana Isaac, where he oversees the care of 40 residents and manages 35 staff. Liz Dilger, the Ryman Healthcare village manager who interviewed Dave back in 2008, says there is nothing lucky about Dave’s success as a nurse.
7
From the start, Dave was a bright, willing and impressive candidate whose hard work and skill have got him where he is today, Liz says. And people like Dave do not grow on trees. Roles are hard to fill and immigrant workers will always be needed to fill the gap. Dave told Stuff that the Government’s planned changes would put off people like him from choosing to come to New Zealand. He says nurses and caregivers grow very attached to their residents, who thrive on consistency. This is also very important to families of people in care. While anyone could do the tasks required to be a caregiver, “not everybody has the heart to care,’’ Dave says. “Being a caregiver, experience-wise, we have to upskill ourselves and after three years we’re probably going to become a senior caregiver – we’ve done all the training. “What will be our incentive, if we’re going to be sent home for a year? I would go back to be honest.’’ Gordon MacLeod told Stuff Ryman was concerned about immigration policy because it took a lot of time to train staff, and worried migrants would not apply for jobs if they knew they would be sent home later. “Standing down for a year is essentially just having to go permanently. That’s the reality,’’ Gordon said. Dave said word soon got out internationally about prospects in different countries, and New Zealand was likely to lose great workers to places such as Canada. Dave got a lot of feedback from the Philippines about the article, and a lot of positive comments on social media for putting the case for immigrants.