October 19, 2021
Pinnacle app brings search for unvaxed to street level
A primary care network serving the Midland region has mined its data to come up with an app to help Māori providers roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pinnacle director of Māori health Brandi Hudson says about 92,000 of the 450,000 people on the Pinnacle network are Māori registered with GP practices in the Gisborne, Taranaki and Lakes DHB areas and much of Waikato.
She estimates about 10 per cent of Māori are not registered with any provider.
Unlike Ministry of Health data which covers suburbs, Pinnacle gets down to mesh level so its app can tell Māori providers the streets where unvaccinated whānau live, without revealing confidential health data, names or addresses.
“So they can be more strategic about where they place their people to awhi our whanau. Because no one is forcing anyone to have a vaccination. We are there to awhi our whānau. they’ve had enough mistrust of the health system, they don’t need us like police going round to find them. We’re simply trying to help the Māori workforce and our own workforces to be more strategic about how they manage their comms to our people,” Ms Hudson says.
Brandi Hudson says the app could also be used to target Māori and other vulnerable populations affected by other health conditions.