Hon Tariana Turia Speech

Associate Minister of Health Presentation of Te Wana Accreditation Certificates to Te Kupenga Hauora o Tauranga Moana and Te Hunga Manaaki Services Charitable Trust

Wednesday 9 November 2011, 11am Wairoa Marae, Bethlehem, Tauranga

I am so pleased to be here today, to celebrate your success in receiving the Te Wana quality accreditation for service delivery.

Exactly two years ago, this marae achieved nationwide acclaim when your story featured on Maori Television’s DIY Marae series.

On 8th November 2009 the story of Wairoa Marae screened on the channel, showing some 150 people who got together over four days to lay concrete, bang in nails, pull up the asphalt and lay out a beautiful lawn and gardens.

According to the locals, it was an awesome experience, which demonstrated the whole community getting behind the marae to achieve a virtual makeover.

In many ways, today’s ceremony is a logical extension of the DIY approach.

The award of Te Wana quality accreditation represents your commitment to continuous improvement in your pursuit of better outcomes for all your whanau.

And it is the classic mark of hard work, of steadfastness, a devotion of duty, an illustration of responsibility.

Te Wana accreditation is based on quality standards, as developed by Health Care Aotearoa over a decade ago.

I have a special fondness for the legacy and the history associated with Healthcare Aotearoa through my experience with the movement as it emerged.

The focus of HCA is one close to my heart, with its ownership firmly located in not-for-profit, community controlled services who are driven by the call to provide healthcare to low income, high need populations.

I know from my own experience that achieving Te Wana accreditation is by no means a simple task.

Anyone who seeks the goldstar quality of Te Wana is required to undergo a comprehensive three year process of self-assessment, onsite reviews, training and development.

One of the more distinctive features of Te Wana is that it sets in train a process of continually reviewing your own performance to see where you can improve. In this respect, Te Wana attracts two special qualities – knowledge and wisdom.

And for those who don’t know the difference, this little saying might help:

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit Wisdom is not putting it in a fruitsalad.

In the case of Te Wana then, the award recognizes the knowledge of being able to assess against standards, and putting in place the strategies to achieve accreditation.

The wisdom comes in the way in which the whole team is recognized as essential to the success of quality health services.

And so today is a good opportunity for you to take the time to acknowledge the value added that each and every one of you make – and I truly mean the whole team – staff, whanau, community, kaumatua and of course the people who walk though your doors.

This is a special day then for Te Kupenga Hauora and Te Hunga Manaaki Services.

Both roopu were established as the embodiment of visions shared by your kuia and koroua, who cared deeply about the health and wellbeing of their communities.

I really marvel at the initiative and the insights of our elders, who look out for our future by reflecting on our past, and are prepared to do the mahi necessary to make the difference.

They provide us with fabulous examples of the courage and the commitment that we need to truly have faith in our own potential.

To borrow a phrase, “I have been internalizing a really complicated situation in my head” which I want to share with you today.

I have been wondering how it is that we can have days like today which remind us all how incredible the power of whanau can be in making a difference in lives; and yet if we were to believe some of the popular press, there is nothing good to be said that can be attached to the status of being Maori in today’s society.

I get so tired of those who take on the mantle of being the prophet of doom and gloom – making it their business to tell us all how poor we are; how deprived and disadvantaged our situation is; how much we need them to achieve a better life.

What we see here today are people who are proud of the lives they lead; whanau who have come together; those who have looked at the richness within their whanau and know immediately that they have the resilience and ample resources to turn to, in order to improve the health and wellbeing of all of their members.

It is that fierce ‘can-do’ attitude; that utter belief that your whanau are important; that your whanau can take control; and that you have all the answers need within your own kete, that are the clearest reasons yet as to why you are so successful.

It is, indeed, the origins of your service – the fact that the need was identified by your own whanau – that breeds success, because the formula of ensuring everyone is involved is a formula that works.

In the case of Te Kupenga Hauora the focus in on culturally appropriate health services for Maori children under the age of five. There is also a healthy cooking, healthy eating and physical activity programme for Maori of all ages, called Manaaki Whanau, Tangata Ora.

Meanwhile with Te Hunga Manaaki Services Charitable Trust, their vision is being achieved with a nurse led, kaupapa Maori organization delivering a range of health needs across the community including mobile registered nursing services, diabetes and asthma management, and pregnancy and birthing services.

So today is a great day.

Te Wana Accreditation merely formalizes what you already know – that you have the interests and the needs of your whanau as priorities which are uppermost in our agenda in developing the highest quality of services for the Tauranga community.

You have achieved the quality standard that a Te Wana Accreditation represents – the challenge now is to keep the momentum and remain dedicated to the goal of continuous improvement.

I am absolutely delighted to acknowledge and celebrate the success of Te Kupenga Hauora and Te Hunga Manaaki Services Charitable Trust

Authorised by Tariana Turia, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

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