When Culture and Care Connect 2011
6 September 2011
The success of Le Va’s Engaging Pasifika cultural competency training programme is generating interest from sectors other than health, like education, corrections and social services sectors. Around 30 workshops have been delivered to approximately 1000 participants from staff and providers in over 12 district health boards, and from the education sector.
Riding on this wave of interest, Le Va hosted the When Culture and Care Connect Forum on 10 June 2011. The purpose of the forum was to create the space and connect key people to start a dialogue around formalising the embedding of culture into care for Pacific people in New Zealand.
View highlights and key messages from the day in the video above.
Ministry of Education Pacific Manager, Ezra Schuster said, “It’s a great opportunity for the two sectors to come together to discuss best practice and to identify what some of the gaps are in the work that we do.”
The main keynote speaker of the day was the esteemed Fa’amatuainu Tino Pereira, key facilitator of Le Va's Engaging Pasifika cultural competency training programme. He presented the ‘Va’ and how relationships are firmly embedded in traditional culture and custom. The highlight of the day was his biographical oration of his experiences of coming to New Zealand and how far we have come in 60 years – with some clear challenges as food for thought… “Our road to sustainable wellbeing is still the same and I continue to be frustrated by the lack of strategic wisdom, the failure to be courageous in tackling our sense of entitlement, and our propensity to find fault instead of goodness”.
Some of the other keynote speakers and panellists on the day included:
- Ezra Schuster - district manager Manukau, Ministry of Education
- Dr Api Talemaitoga - clinical director Pacific health, Ministry of Health
- Dr Maika Veikune - Pacific cultural advisor, Counties Manukau District Health Board
- Dr Karlo Mila-Schaaf - post-doctoral fellow, University of Otago
- Dr Monique Faleafa - national manager, Le Va.
“Today I think awareness creation (of the place of culture in health care) is the most important thing,” remarked Dr Veikune.
Key themes that emerged on the day included: who am I, creating a safe space, giving the youth a voice, how the health sector has been leading the way, the value of change, and how to engage those who are disconnected.
Massey University director Pasifika, Professor Sitaleki Finau, believes the fono has "enhanced the dialogue that has not been happening in the health sector". Dr Mila-Schaaf also commented that, "people were having conversations that were long overdue".
Dr Talemaitoga believes the fono is the catalyst for improving services that the Pacific people receive. “Today’s forum is just the beginning and will help practitioners continually learn to develop their capabilities so that the service that is provided is the best for the communities that they serve.”
Meeting the needs of Pacific youth was a topical subject. Hutt Valley DHB Pacific advisor, Siloma Masina, raised the need to think about incorporating a youth arm to the training or to the fono. Giving Pacific youth a voice was one of the key themes with discussion around whether different approaches for different generations are needed and if differences exist between Island born and New Zealand born young Pacific people.
Ending the days proceedings, CEO Pacific Island safety and prevention project, Peseta Betty Sio, said the real challenge lay in what is done with the information learned at the fono.
Over 160 people attended the fono on the day with good representation from frontline health workers from DHBs and NGOs. Le Va was also pleased to see the strong community presence at the fono. Of those that attended, the majority identified with being Samoan, followed by Tongan, Niuean and then Cook Islands. And of the feedback received, over three quarters of the participants found it an effective or highly effective fono.
The fono was intended to be the beginning of a formal dialogue between cultural knowledge holders, frontline health workers, clinicians and academics to ensure the New Zealand workforce is more responsive to the needs of Pacific communities. Le Va is committed to progressing this dialogue and to ensure the journey is productive. Le Va is convening a closed workshop in early October to progress some of the issues raised at the fono. The outcome of this workshop will be shared with the sector before the end of the year.
Page last updated: 7 September 2011