Hora Te Pai is vaccinating people at its Warrimoo St base in Paraparaumu but wanted to operate from the marae because it was a familiar place to many people particularly iwi members.
Te Atiawa whare kai. Photo / David Haxton
Hora Te Pai tumuaki (general manager) Diane Tatana said there had been a surge in vaccinations during lockdown but numbers had reduced and they had noticed hesitancy in some quarters.
"It's about building trust and some of our messaging, rather than telling people to get vaccinated, needed to be more of a conversation piece.
"People need time to not feel pressured, and have a conversation about how they're feeling, so you can create a common ground and feel like you're being heard and empowered.
"And then there's this sense of being mana enhancing.
"So we talk about manaaki and having mana enhancing processes, and living by core values, and you need to do that by having face to face conversations and giving them a platform to talk about their concern and walk that journey with them.
"Sometimes a five-minute vaccination appointment isn't enough.
"So we're sort of changing our messaging from 'we're here at the marae and we're vaccinating' to 'we want to hear what you've got to say first before anything else' so we can nurture and manaaki you through that process.
"It has been a learning curve for us because we thought 'great we can do this big awesome thing as a Māori health provider' but then thought 'hang on, we also need to slow down a bit and listen and engage, rather than tell and direct'."
Te Atiawa marae, Marae Lane, Waikanae, until October 29: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10am to 4pm.
