March 22, 2024
Cultural safety start honoured
Three Ngāi Tahu wahine have been posthumously honoured for their contributions to health, education and cultural safety.
Portraits of Dr Irihapeti Ramsden, Linda Grennell and Dame Aroha Reriti-Crofts have been installed at the Manawa campus of Ara, formerly Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.
All three had played significant roles at the polytechnic.
Dr Ramsden, a registered general and obstetric nurse and doctor of philosophy, is remembered for her instigation of cultural safety in nursing education.
It became part of the New Zealand nursing and midwifery curriculum in 1992 and is now part of nursing practice throughout the world.
Linda Grennell and Dame Aroha Reriti-Crofts, both former presidents of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, were known for their strong and vocal community leadership and advocacy for iwi-Māori in the health sector locally and nationally.
Hector Mathews, the director of consumer engagement for Te Whatu Ora, says nursing has been profoundly improved at the education and service delivery level because of the work of these three trailblazers.