Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival celebrated in Kaitāia

People flocked to the inaugural Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival at Kaitāia’s Te Ahu centre on Saturday.

The inaugural Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival was celebrated in style on Saturday at Kaitāia’s Te Ahu centre.

The festival marked another step towards supporting a healthier, thriving whānau living in Te Hiku, and is one of 13 innovative initiatives being tested this year under the Taikorihi Locality — the population health prototype set up under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 to influence and inform the future investment of public health in New Zealand.

On Saturday, several providers and Te Hiku whānau got together at Te Ahu to celebrate health and wellbeing.

Saturday’s Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival at Kaitāia was the first of its kind, but another will be held this year.

Te Hiku Hauora CEO Maria Baker said a second festival was in the planning for this year, but Saturday’s event was aimed at connecting whānau to local primary health services and resources in Te Hiku that focus on hauora and wellbeing.

“This is about people in our community who are doing mahi on the ground that’s focused on wellbeing. We’re really looking forward to who we have coming and just being able to get some learnings at the end about how we can work better with each other to support each other to be able to be available to the community,” she said.

The festival featured door prizes and giveaways as people got into a kōrero with their local providers about their whānau hauora needs.

The Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival at Kaitāia provided plenty of information for the hundreds who attended.

Taikorihi Locality manager JJ Ripikoi said the festival came out of the whānau voice that was captured prior to Taikorihi forming its four priority focus areas — hauora (primary healthcare and access), taitamariki and mental health, māmā and pēpi wellbeing, and whare āhuru (housing).

“Although we have a reasonably good range of services and supports accessible in Te Hiku, one of the consistent messages that whānau have always said is that they don’t know what’s available to them or where to go to help. The Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival is a great starting point to get whānau back in touch with our providers and seek help for their specific needs right there,” he said.

Music is good for your wellbeing, and live sounds kept people entertained on Saturday.

For more information on the Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival 2024, head to www.tehikuhauora.nz. For more information on Taikorihi and the Pae Ora health reforms, go to www.taikorihi.co.nz.

Baby health was a key focus of the Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival.

Many health and wellbeing organisations were represented at the Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival.

Health and wellbeing were the focus of the Muriwhenua Wellbeing Festival.

Exercise is an important part of good health and wellbeing.

There were plenty of people keen to find out more about health and wellbeing at Te Ahu in Kaitāia on Saturday.