ProCare launches Māori Health Strategy and other equity initiatives

Leading healthcare provider, ProCare, has launched its refreshed Māori Health Strategy named Te Taukaea alongside other equity initiatives; a Te Ao Māori cultural competency app called ‘ihi’ and cultural confidence training called Te Pūheke. This follows a launch event alongside Chief Executives of Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora, our Māori partners, community and key stakeholders.

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at ProCare says, “ProCare has been on a huge transformation journey over the past 18 months. We have shifted our thinking and put equity and whānau at the heart of what we do. Te Taukaea, Māori Health Strategy is closely linked to our wider Population Health Strategy, and its purpose is to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for tangata whenua.

“Launching our Māori Health Strategy is another step forward in ProCare’s equity journey and was the first time we have brought together the wider Māori community to celebrate with us,” she continues.

Mihi Blair, Kaiwhakahaere Hauora Māori, Mana Taurite at ProCare says “A key part of our Māori Health Strategy is improving cultural confidence among our staff and network of healthcare professionals.

“We are proud to offer Te Pūheke, an online course developed by ProCare to help enable our staff and GP network to build an understanding of unconscious bias, become culturally responsive, develop cultural confidence, and learn how to empower communities.

“We have also developed ihi, an app to help increase confidence with pronunciation of te reo, and in turn, aiming to contribute to reducing inequities and improving health outcomes for Māori.” she concludes.

ihi can be downloaded free from the App Store, Google Play or Microsoft Store.