HEALTHY HABITS
The healthcare team at Tangata Atumotu Trust have used the changes wrought by the pandemic to provide even more wholistic care to their grateful clients.
When New Zealand’s lockdown went into place, registered nurse Suli Tuitaupe and his team at the Tangata Atumotu Trust (TAT) were forced to find a new way to look after their community. A Pasifika healthcare provider in Christchurch, TAT offers mobile nursing, health support services and fitness classes for the local Pasifika community. In response to the level 4 restrictions, TAT built a new (virtual) approach to its work. Turning to holistic phone consultations, the team has been providing a regular support base for their patients’ physical, mental, spiritual and financial needs during the pandemic.
This holistic approach, says Tuitaupe, has helped them delve into broader challenges beyond the medical, such as language barriers around COVID-19 protocols, financial struggles and social isolation from loved ones. “It’s been a big learning curve as a nursing team because we’ve had to delve into other areas,” he says. “But that’s the beauty of it, it’s been great to be able to cover all the aspects of the individual’s life, health and family and offer solutions and advice.”
With around 150 people in their community base, the nurses at TAT have been kept busy with the daily check-ins. Covering everything from flu immunisations, to daily prayer, to language translations for the COVID-19 announcements, the regular phone calls give the TAT team an opportunity to maintain an important presence and conversations in the community.
“It highlights the importance of staying connected and enabling our communities to navigate services, supports, information and resources,” says Tuitaupe.
Tuitaupe is also a fitness instructor and has switched to live streaming to help the community members maintain their physical health. Before the lockdown, he led weekly Siva Samoa dance sessions, which alongside the workout, provided health checks, nutritious snacks, prayer and health education.
Launching its first online version of the class in mid-April, the team has seen a positive response from the community, reaching over 20,000 page views in the space of 24 hours.
Tuitaupe says that as the government begins to ease restrictions, TAT will continue to offer hands-on support and guidance, while advocating for Pasifika health and wellbeing.
“We’ve been working closely with community public health and they’ve acknowledged that having a service that’s community based but also offers culture and translation services is really beneficial.”
“IT’S BEEN GREAT TO COVER ALL THE ASPECTS OF THEIR LIFE.” SULI TUITAUPE