Waatea News Update

News from Waatea 603 AM, Urban Maori radio, first with Maori news

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Hospital care leaves whanau in cold

A new study of the care of children in hospital found Maori whanau feel powerless and left out of decisions affecting their injured tamariki.

The study, by researchers from Auckland University's Te Kupenga Hauora Maori in the school of population health, identified concerns with inadequate information, cultural miscommunication and a feeling by many Maori and Pacific Island families that they were not entitled to high-quality information or services.

Maori Health Review editor Matire Harwood says the study showed the problem lay with the system rather than individual doctors or nurses.

“Maori whanau don't blame the individual, the one doctor or nurse with whom they may have had a bad experience. They recognise there are wider contextual or system factors that impact on their ability to go into a hosp services and feel comfortable in that service and know they are getting the best quality treatment for their child,” Dr Harwood says.

Health providers need to be more aware of the ways different ethnic groups respond to their services, and whanau could also benefit from having a patient charter or checklist indicating what their rights are.

POKIES SUCKING MONEY OUT OF MAORI POCKETS

A lot of south Auckland's Maori economy is going south ... though the city's hundred of gambling machines.

Zoe Martin, a problem gambling co ordinator from Ha Pai Te Hau Oram says $17 million went through the pokies in Manukau during the first quarter of the year, with Maori some of the biggest contributors.

She says whanau who can least afford it, fall prey to the trappings of gambling.

The effects ripple through the whanau, contributing to a spiral of poverty.

There is one pokie machine for every 139 people in Manukau, the highest ratio in the country.

BLIND REDESIGN WEBSITE FOR EASIER ACCESS

A new website tool should help visually impaired Maori access the Internet.

Support group Ngati Kapo o Aotearoa has redesigned its site to allows users to enlarge font size, change the colour of the background and turn the entire website into text-only format which can be used with synthesised speech programs.

Chief executive Christine Cowan of Ngati Kahungunu says the redesign idea came from kapo Maori who want to read about what's going on in the runanga for themselves.

She hopes government agencies and businesses adopt the website tool to enable kapo Maori access to more sites.

KAHUNGUNU STUDENT TO ADVISE FAMILIES COMMISSION

A Hawkes Bay student has been selected to give a Maori perspective to a national group which speaks up for the rights of rangatahi.

Ben Carpenter from Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu will join the Young People's Reference Group, which advices the Childrens Commissioner.

He says rangatahi face many obvious struggles with drugs and alcohol, however there are other challenges too, such as Maori who dio not know their own whakapapa.

LIBRARY TRIES BRIBES FOR BOOKS

Manukau City Library is offering prizes of iPods, DVDs and cell phones to rangatahi to read more books.

Its annual Manix3 teen reading challenge starting next week encourages teenagers to read as many books as they can in five weeks, with points given for each book read.

Jody Gayton, the library's learning and literacy coordinator, says it's important to encourage rangatahi to use libraries.
Maori and Pacific Island children are under-represented in library usage.

BISHOP TO RETIRE AFTER LIFE OF SERVICE TO MAORI
A taonga of the Anglican church is retiring after decades of work with Maori.

George Connor stands down as Bishop of Dunedin in November on the 44th anniversary of his ordination.

Bishop Connor spent the early decades of his ministry in the Bay of Plenty serving the people of Te Arawa, Tairawhiti and Tauranga Moana in Maori pastorates and mission districts.

The fluent reo speaker says he learned to inhabit two worlds, while never forgetting that he is Pakeha, even if in a Maori context.

Bishop Connor says his engagement with Maori led him to explore his Irish side so he could understand his own tupuna.

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