A new chapter has begun for Māori health in Kirikiriroa with the turning of the sod for the Te Whare Mahara Wellness centre, the first Māori-led dementia care facility in the area. Te Kōhao Health and The Selwyn Foundation have partnered on the initiative, which aims to provide culturally safe care for those with mate wareware.
“Well this is a centre for our whānau who have mate wareware and the beauty about this is that it’s a Māori environment, it will be a Māori environment, a place where they feel familiar and that they feel comfortable and they feel safe,” said Lady Tureiti Moxon of Te Kōhao Health.
“People want to feel comfortable in something that they’re familiar with so it wasn’t about building a new flash whare or a clinical whare or those kinds of things. It was to have a whare that they could resonate with that they felt like they identified with,” she said.
“We’re coming here to do the turning of the sod but also to bless the whare, ready for renovations so we can open the centre later in the year,” Lady Moxon explained. She also praised the collaboration, stating that the partnership with The Selwyn Foundation “is supporting Māori and supporting iwi to put these centres up all over the country and supporting us financially to do that.”
Te Whare Mahara: Te whare manaaki mate wareware kaupapa Māori tuatahi i Kirikiriroa
Ko te Te Whare Mahara Wellness Centre he kaupapa aratakina e te kaupapa Māori hei manaaki i te hunga kua pāngia e te mate wareware. I tū te hui huri one i Kirikiriroa, hei tohu i te tīmatanga o ngā mahi whakahou i te whare.
Hei tā Tureia Moxon o Te Kōhao Health, “He tino whakahirahira tēnei mō te whānau o Te Kōhao Health, mō te Selwyn Foundation hoki. He tino pai tēnei hononga. Ko te huri oneone mō te whare hou ki te manaaki i ngā tāngata e pāngia ana i te mate wareware.”
I kī a Tureia, kei te whakahoutia te whare “mō te hōtaka rā mō ō tātou whānau e patu ana i tēnei momo mate. He tino pai tēnā hononga ki a Selwyn Foundation.”. Ko tētahi o ngā whāinga nui o te kaupapa nei, ko te whakatā i ngā kaiāwhina. Hei tā Tureia, “Mō ngā tangata katoa e patu ana i te mate wareware. Ko te whakaaro kia whakatā te whānau i āwhina i a ratou mō tērā. He tino maha ngā momo mate e patu ana tātou i tēnei wā.”.
Ka taea e te pokapū te tautoko i te hapori Māori mā te tuku i ngā mahi ahurea. “Ka tāea tātou ki te āwhina i te hapori Māori, ki te mahi i ngā mahi Māori, ngā waiata, kapa haka, ngā mahi ā ringa, ngā mahi rakuraku, ngā mahi tikanga i roto i tō tātou mahi,” i mea a Tureia.