Partnership will aid Māori health
A health service needing more Māori staff and aMāori education provider nurturing rangatahi into science-related careers have signed a game-changing partnership in Palmerston North.
The soon-to-be abolished MidCentral District Health Board and Pūhoro Stemm Academy will work together to nurture Māori students into the possibilities in health.
Retiring board chief executive Kathryn Cook said the partnership was the first of its kind in New Zealand, and paved the way for a future where Māori people coming into health services could be greeted and treated by Māori health workers.
General manager for Māori Health Tracee Te Huia said while Māori made up 20% of the district’s population, they were only 10.7% of the board’s workforce.
That had increased from about 6% in two years, including 75 Māori health workers recruited in three months recently.
Recruiting more Māori into healthcare careers was seen as one of the ways to overcome inequities, which sawMāori suffer worse heath outcomes than non-Māori, Te Huia said.
Pūhoro graduate and tutor
Amber Te Tau explained how the programme had helped her develop from a Year 12 student wanting a bit of extra help with NCEA studies into a university student intent on achieving a doctoral degree in genetics.
She said she did not realise the impact it would have on her life to be immersed in aspects of Māori culture as never before, to be introduced to role models, and have opportunities to work as an intern and prove her abilities.
Te Tau said the more she studied, the more she valued knowledge and wanted to know more, and she felt valued for the unique perspective she brought as a young Māori to the internship opportunities
Pūhoro had helped to create for her. She said it was important for Māori students to be shown what the possibilities were, and have someone to explain how to achieve their goals and dreams.
Chairperson of the board’s current Treaty partner
Manawhenua Hauora, Oriana Paewai, said the partnership would deliver double benefits.
It would inspire rangatahi to study and thrive and aim high for quality jobs in health sciences, and help them to contribute to the health and wellbeing of the community, Paewai said.
Pūhoro chief executive Naomi Manu said since 2016, the academy supported nearly 1500 students.
It had been strengthening the pathway for young Māori from their third year at secondary school, through tertiary studies in science-related subjects and into work.
She said the majority of Pūhoro students were achieving as well as, or better, than non-Māori contemporaries in science subjects.
The partnership arrangement would become one with the new Health New Zealand from July 1.
Manu said it would have intergenerational benefits, improving both health and education outcomes.