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A heart screening programme launched this week by King Tūheitia is being seen as a game changer for rural Māori.
Cardiovascular disease which is one of the five biggest killers of Māori and often comes without warning symptoms.
Hāpaitia te Hauora Manawa is run by Waikato DHB’s cardiovascular department alongside Te Kōhao Health.
Te Kōhao director Lady Tureiti Moxon says it takes a mobile heart screening unit in a van out to rural communities to test people who wouldn’t normally been seen.
“And that’s what we’re looking for particularly with the reforms of the interim Māori Health Authority and interim Health New Zealand. There’s lots of opportunities for us to do things differently, to do things much smarter and to be much more responsive to whanau,” she says.
Lady Moxon says Hāpaitia te Hauora Manawa has been trialled in recent months at Waharoa marae.
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