“Excuse me, are you the Brookings? Please follow me.”

And with that Keriana and Jack Brooking were led by the Aide-de-Camp to His Royal Highness Prince William’s table at a hangi dinner hosted by the Governor-General last weekend. 

The Turanganui Primary Health Organisation Chief Executive and her husband Jack were part of a 60-strong guest list selected to have dinner with the 27-year-old Prince during his three day visit to New Zealand. 

Other guests included iconic Kiwi musicians Dave Dobbyn and Che Fu who provided entertainment during the course of the evening, Olympic medallist Mahe Drysdale, and Paralympics medallist Cameron Leslie.

“I thought it was really fantastic,” said Keriana, who admitted to nerves ahead of the event at Government House in Auckland. 

“It’s not something that we have done before but the crowd was relatively young.”

Keriana, Jack, and the Prince were joined at the table of 10 by Cameron Leslie, Reina Webster Iti (Fulbright Scholar and director), a senior military officer and a Rhodes Scholar, among others. Conversation flowed easily and didn’t necessarily focus on the Prince, said Keriana. 

“It was very pleasant conversation, rugby, what we did over Christmas, and the finer points of hangi. We sat opposite the Prince and all chatted as a table.”

Keriana said she also spent time talking to Governor-General Hon Sir Anand Satyanand who was looking forward to returning to Gisborne at Easter for the Eastwoodhill Aboretum centennial celebrations.
 
Highlights of the evening included meeting other scholarly New Zealanders - not necessarily known to the public but making national ripples in their own fields. The moving vocal performances by Dave Dobbyn and Che Fu capped off a marvellous evening, said Keriana.
 
The Prince left New Zealand on Tuesday for Australia.

By Helen Peterson

Traditional Maori healing practices could hold the key for accessing other primary health resources in isolated rural areas, says Turanga Health Personal Health Manager Albie Stewart on the eve of a groundbreaking Tairawhiti Rongoa Maori hui. 

Rongoa Maori or traditional Maori healing reflects a holistic approach to health that embodies wairuatanga or spirituality as part of a person’s whole being; alongside physical, mental and social aspects. 

Practices include ritenga and karakia (healing incantations and rituals); rongoa (physical remedies derived from trees, leaves, berries, fruits, bark and moss); wai (use of healing water); and mirimiri (traditional massage).

For the past 10 years Turanga Health has been contracted by the Ministry of Health to provide some traditional practices, as has Tolaga Bay’s Te Aitanga a Hauiti Hauora. Along with the smoking cessation service, mirimiri is one of Turanga Health’s busiest programmes.

Now these two iwi providers have sought the support of Ngati Porou Hauora Primary Health Organisation, and the trio have agreed to work towards growing and legitimising rongoa Maori as a complimentary health practice in Tairawhiti.

They have formed a collective called Te Haerenga o Te Tairawhiti. Albie says this is a symbolic gesture recognizing the journey Tairawhiti iwi face to achieve wellbeing for their whanau and hapu.

“There are a lot of challenges to meet but this combined approach has the potential to further highlight the importance of traditional Maori healing practices,” he says.

“Rongoa Maori could boost the serious lack of primary health resources in rural regions. It could even assist with achieving primary health gains and revitalize a traditional practice that has been suppressed for too long.” 

“From an iwi perspective there are ‘home-grown’ people who are practicing rongoa Maori but some may not have the marketing support that legitimizes the status of traditional healing, so this is where Te Haerenga o Te Tairawhiti will be invaluable,” said Albie.

“We would like to identify and support individuals or whanau practitioners of rongoa Maori as a first step.
Following that we would look for ways to facilitate access pathways for whanau and others entering the primary care environment.”

Recently the Ministry of Health supported the establishment of Te Paepae Matua mo te Rongoa, a nationwide network with regional representatives whose purpose is to protect, nurture and grow rongoa Maori.

The local hui will be held January 22 to 24 at Tokomaru Bay’s Pakirikiri Marae. Practitioners, interested whanau, and individuals are invited to attend. Timetable and speakers.

By Helen Peterson

Examinations of alleged sexual assault victims are being managed in a new way and headed by Kaiti Medical Centre’s Dr Tom James.

The changes are the result of a new subcontract Turanganui Primary Health Organisation has with Kaiti Medical Centre to run the Sexual Assault Assessment and Treatment Service or SAATS. 

New funding pays for a nurse to help each doctor with the examination procedure. Two nurses - Carol Ford of Turanganui Primary Health Organisation, and Turanga Health’s Sarah Timmins - have undergone the training required to become part of the team. A third nurse is expected to soon join them. 

Dr James said previously the New Zealand Police provided a female police officer to accompany the alleged victims during the examination process.

Tom is the only male doctor nationwide heading a SAAT service but he is not fazed. Due to his earlier involvement in a similar service he agreed to take on the local head role.

He says there are two components. 

“The first priority is the health and welfare of an alleged victim, while the second is to gather the forensic evidence, and this includes taking swabs for both infection and DNA analysis.”

Doctors involved with SAATS also, on occasions, have to appear as an expert witness in court with regard to their findings during an examination. 

Tom says the team offers an acute service and about 12 adult sexual abuse victims are examined each year. Alleged child victims are examined by Tairawhiti District Health’s Dr Mary Stonehouse.

Tom plans to run educational sessions about the service in the hope of attracting new doctors to the roster. To date he, Dr Siri Nanayakkara and until recently, Dr Johan Peters, were involved. Due to other commitments Dr Peters has stood down, so more doctors are needed.

Although Tom is satisfied with the way the service is running, he is further tailoring it to better suit the needs of this district. Finding ways to make the SAATS examination less daunting after an already traumatic event, is also a priority.