Haere Mai - Ko Wai Au?

Ko Hikaroroa te mauka
Ko Waikouaiti te awa
Ko Arai te Uru te waka
Ko Kati Huirapa ki Puketeraki te marae
Ko Kai Tahu te iwi

I am a Māori Pharmacist with a passion for taking health to the people. Our current health system is not doing enough to reach Māori and is constantly looking for ways to improve the health outcomes of our tangata whenua. This is why I have started a social venture called Kia Kaha Chemist - Strengthening relationships to inspire Māori health. I use the word chemist as this is what the kaumātua I service, understand, and can relate to. It is not until after my engagements that the kaumātua realise I am a bit different to their usual chemist they get their medicines from. 

Kia Kaha Chemist is a mobile service focusing on medicines education, health literacy and wellbeing. The service also has a hidden agenda, to strengthen the relationships between kaumātua, their Pharmacist, and their GP. Not to mention strengthening the communications between primary and secondary care. A lot of the people I am interacting with, have almost lost faith in our health system, refusing to take medicines, missing outpatient appointments, listening to to their peers for health advice rather than 'The man'. I regularly attend different marae around Waitaha (Canterbury), giving presentations to kaumātua and dispelling myths associated with medicines, vitamins, and our health system as a whole. After the presentation, some kaumātua bring their medicines along and I am able to perform a 'Māorified' Medicines Use Review with the kaumātua, in an environment they are comfortable in. I am also in the process of developing a Kaupapa Māori Medicines Therapy Assessment framework using Suzanne Pitama's Meihana model.

I realise that it is a massive job trying to change the way a big machine like our health system operates but I am constantly working hard and have had some very positive hui with key stakeholders both within the system and especially with the Māori and Pacific NGO providers. It is going to take a whole lot of cooperation from every single stakeholder for us to begin moving toward an equity-based health system. Inter-organisational politics (and some egos) need to be left at the door if we truly want to put the patient at the centre and improve health outcomes for Māori.

E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takimano, takitini - Success is not the work of one, but the work of many.