At Toiora PHO we endeavour to provide you with the latest news and information about the PHO, Practices, Quality Improvement Projects and up to date Health Bulletins. The news letter will also include media articles, up and coming events and other panui.
Over the last six months, there have been some very positive articles in the media about the work that has been happening in the Waikato.
A Maori provider is so serious about cervical screening, its staff are plucking ladies off front porches – pyjamas, cup of tea and all – for overdue smears.
Since February, Taumarunui Community Kokiri Trust staff have spent five Saturdays collecting agreeable women from all sorts of places and taking them to the trust’s Family Clinic to have a cervical smear taken.
Family Clinic practice manager Lynda Bowles says colleagues drive down the street and, if they see a woman who is overdue for a smear, they’ll do a U-turn and follow her.
Or, if they spot a woman’s vehicle in the supermarket car park, they will go into the supermarket and track them down, Ms Bowles says.
They’ve even taken one lady still wearing her pyjamas and enjoying a cup of tea off her front porch to the clinic.
Transport is a major reason why women don’t come to such appointments, Ms Bowles says.
Once the women have had their smears taken they are treated to a cup of tea and a piece of sponge cake.
In almost all cases women were receptive to the offer of a cervical smear with only one flatly refusing, Ms Bowles says.
The project has so far netted 93 women.
Three women found to have CIN3 have been treated and are on their way to recovery.
One of the three women who had to be treated was the third wife of a man who had lost his previous two wives to cervical cancer, Ms Bowles says.
Of the 93 women screened, 65 per cent were Maori and there was an average of 10 years since the last smear, Maori community health worker Tanya Skudder says.
“We had a woman who had not had a smear test for 25 years.”
The process has also allowed healthcare staff to talk to women about breast cancer screening and has given the women an opportunity to talk about other issues, such as family violence, in a safe environment.
Trust chief executive Christine Brears says the project is in response to a high incidence of female cancer deaths in the community and because recall letters weren’t working.
Te Kohao Health Ltd a provider of health and social services based at the Kirikiriroa Marae in Hamilton invites you to join us in our first major fundraising campaign to build an iconic $3 million dollar Community Health and Wellness Centre. This centre will offer a wide range of culturally appropriate services for people with the greatest health and social needs in our community.
Background Established in 1994 Te Kohao Health offers holistic community friendly health and social services in a low-cost accessible way to everyone. We currently serve in excess of 5000 patients and clients.
Accredited under Quality Health New Zealand, with a general practice also accredited under the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, Te Kohao Health prides itself in offering a wide range of services by highly skilled and professional staff. Te Kohao Health is also a recognised training centre for GP Registrars, student doctors, nurses, social workers and counsellors.
Focussed on people with the greatest health and social needs in our community Te Kohao Health is intent on turning around such negative statistics as a Maori population which dies 10 years younger than non Maori. Initiatives to reduce barriers to health and social services will annul reports of a Maori population which suffers twice as many cardiac episodes than non Maori and yet receive less than half the interventions. One study showed that at Work and Income New Zealand 7.5% of non Maori families received a child disability allowance compared with 3.2% Maori families. The average allowance for a non Maori child is $16.92 compared with $11.05 for a Maori child. Such statistics drive our campaign for Health and Wellness for all and our vision for a future with strong, healthy, vibrant and prosperous whanau.
Fundraising Events A brand new Health and Wellness Centre for the Hamilton community costs money! Our fundraising campaign was officially launched in April 2007 with a very successful celebrity auction dinner. This was followed by a successful art auction at the Hamilton Central City Library on 13 June 2007, and a further art auction will be held in September aimed at offering supporters a very unique experience. To view our events calendar click here.
How Can You Help Support has been wide and varied, with individuals and organisations donating in a variety of ways. Any contribution by way of a donation, a grant, your skills, expertise, networks or fundraising ideas will assist us to achieve our goal. To register your interest in donating your time, money or talents to this campaign, please contact directly Jackie Haggie, Marketing Manager on (07) 856 1835 or alternatively email admin@tekohaohealth.co.nz.
