Hawkes Bay Hauora Collective Whanau Ora; Te Roopu Huihuinga Hauora Trust; Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri

I have been so excited about the opportunity to open Te Roopu Huihuinga Hauora Trust Whanau Wellness Centre.

What a fabulous name to wear with pride – this is the centre at which 'whanau wellness' is the norm.    This is the centre which sets a new expectation – that the greatest wealth is health.

The only thing you will catch walking through these doors is the infectious spirit, people who are driven by the exuberance of living.

It is time for establishing a new norm, an agenda of transformation.

I want to firstly mihi to Frances Smiler-Edwards and Poko Ione for your commitment, your enthusiasm and your leadership in supporting whanau to achieve their maximum health and wellbeing.

You have taken the first steps towards improving your lives across this rohe. 

You have looked far and wide, from Waimarama to Flaxmere, from Pakipaki to Bridge Pa, searching out new solutions.

Te Roopu Huihuinga Hauora Trust has over the last decade, been delivering Te Tipu Rongoa Hauora services throughout your community.

Whakaoranga Whanau has been a key priority for your whanau, hapu and iwi in Heretaunga, Ahuriri, Wairoa, Waikaremoana and Mahia.

And over the years, across the miles, throughout the generations you have upheld what has become a universal truth – and that is the statement from the World Health Organisation in 1948, that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

We are all sick and tired of being diagnosed as sick and tired.

And we are no longer prepared to take our body to the doctor as if it was a repair shop for basic maintenance and patch-up work.

It is time to fix ourselves, to heal and restore, to renovate our soul.

This is about taking charge of our own lives.

The other night one of my staff met up at a marae in this rohe, with a group of men.

They might have been economists, artists, gang members, teachers, engineers, bankers.

What bound them together was their deep bonds through whakapapa, their tupuna connections to that marae, their driving motivation as fathers.

They shared in common, a fervent desire to create a better future for their children; to invest in whanau wellness.

This to me is the very essence of Whanau Ora – it is about transforming social service delivery so that services are focused on the needs of the whanau rather than only the specific issue that traditionally might have meant an individual presented with at a health service.

It’s doing what those young men did – bringing them together to focus on the building blocks of change – supporting whanau to change behaviours and focusing on the things that make the difference – the factors that will assist them in better managing their health.

That group of dads didn’t categorise the issues into whether they were primary, secondary or tertiary care.

They didn’t care whether the service they needed was from a PHO, an NGO, a DHB, or TEC.   They weren’t worried about whether the programme measured up against the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

That’s not to say that they weren’t interested in quality, in accountability or standards of excellence – but these factors were all relative to the outcomes that they were setting for themselves.

That is what whanau wellness is about.

It’s about bringing all the component parts together, uniting the people, and focusing on collective outcomes that will bring about the greatest gain.

Whanau wellness is intimately and comprehensively linked to health literacy – the degree by which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand health information.   All the best information tells us that people with poor health literacy skills are at greater risk of poor health outcomes.

I am really keen to kick off the conversations – to focus on the communications between health workers and whanau to ensure far stronger understanding about how whanau can access treatment, health education, health services and rongoa.

Whanau wellness will emerge when we focus on outcomes rather than activities; when we enter into collaborative partnerships across the community, and when we integrate services together.

I want to bring up three different situations where a Whanau Ora approach might be applied.

Yesterday, ASH released their latest study of some 32,000 Year Ten students throughout New Zealand schools.   It is one of the largest surveys in the world, and provides with a unique set of data related to smoking.

One of the data sets which worried me the most was that around parental smoking.   In 2010 the survey found that some 62% of Maori students reported that one or both of their parents smoke; and that 31% of Maori students reported that people smoke inside their home.

So while people may express shock/horror at the disproportionately high rates of Maori girls smoking (17% of Maori girls smoke daily compared to 3% of European girls) – we have to ask ourselves – what are we doing about it if their parents are not setting a different example, if their homes are not auahi kore.  How can we all support our whanau to look at these issues through collective eyes?

The second example occurred in the aftermath of the state sector reform announcements made earlier this week.  I overheard a couple of teachers saying, of course the most significant reform would be if you brought the Ministries of Health and Education into one building. 

After all if education is about learning, knowledge and liberation then wouldn’t the greatest act of transformation come from understanding how to be the very best you can be in all dimensions of health and wellbeing.

And my third example, comes in the form of a special funding announcement.

I have deliberately chosen to use this moment in time to announce $7.3 million of reprioritised funding for new sexual health initiatives over the next four years.

The investment will focus on supporting rangatahi and young Pasifika persons; it will enable an evaluation of sexuality education; and includes a focus on specific interventions related to African communities, the prevention and treatment of chlaymidia and evaluating condom promotion initiatives.

I am really pleased about this significant investment in such a core facet of our health.  In effect it means that sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing is valued  and understood as one of the core foundations of whanau health and wellbeing.

These are just three instances where health outcomes, where whanau wellbeing is demonstrated in different forms.

Each of you will have different stories to tell and experiences to share which give another meaning to whanau ora.

That calling to share your story is also a vital part of  the solution and must be encouraged – and indeed, if possible, recorded.  We must be able to celebrate what we have achieved – to reflect back on the initiatives established, to evaluate and appreciate the innovations we have pioneered.

Today then, is your day to tell stories; your day to bask in the glory of the successes already achieved – and  most of all it is our day to be excited about the potential that is captured in this wonderful Whanau Wellness Centre.

Tena tatou katoa