Ladies Health Day helps break down barriers
A specialised event for migrant women is ‘‘priceless’’ for health providers struggling to meet the needs of migrants who moved to Canterbury after the earthquakes.
About 150 women representing 19 nationalities attended the ‘Ladies Health Day’ on Friday, which aimed to bridge language and cultural barriers to health for women who had recently made Christchurch their home.
Christchurch Resettlement Services (CRS) general manager Shirley Wright said many of the women did not know what health services were available because they had become socially isolated.
‘‘For me it’s about equity – we invite them to come here, so we need to ensure they are healthy and well-connected,’’ she said.
Bhutanese refugee Pabrita Biswa, spent 20 of her 25 years in a refugee camp in Nepal before moving to New Zealand.
The mother of three was happy with her new life in Christchurch, saying ‘‘everything in New Zealand is good’’, but she found learning English difficult, could not drive, and missed her family.
The ladies health day helped her learn more about how to get a job and how to eat healthily in New Zealand, and she had enrolled with subsidised medical centre Piki Te Ora, popular with migrants and refugees.
Afghan woman Ruby Sadat, 26, moved to Christchurch with her family when she was 12, and found the Kiwi diet included more vegetables than the Afghan one, which was all about rice, bread and meat.
Pegasus Health migrant services manager Wayne Reid said the event was a chance for health service providers to connect with migrant and refugee women.
Health providers were straining to meet the needs of migrants who had come for the earthquake rebuild, he said.
Having counsellors from the same cultural background was needed to break down barriers.
‘‘The number of people using that service . . . has gone up like a rocket because we are dealing with people in their own language by people from their own culture,’’ Reid said.