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Pegasus 2025 Kia atawhai ki te tangata
FURTHER VIGILANCE NEEDED E mihi ana ki a koutou i tēnei wā o te tau hou - New Year greetings to you all. Our community primary health teams should all be back on board now. I wish you well with your planning for 2021. I hope you managed to take a break while our colleagues, including 24 Hour Surgery staff cared for our community over the holidays. I ended last year’s newsletter with a plea not to become complacent about the threat of COVID-19. We’ve just seen the potential for the disease to re-enter at community transmission level in the North Island and new variants are now making their way to New Zealand. It’s a good time to focus on what we can control. Using the scanning app, enabling Bluetooth on your phone and signing in manually if you don’t have the technology is vital. Alongside this, as our clinical colleagues already know, cleaning your hands frequently, staying at home if you are unwell and getting a COVID test if you have symptoms, all form part of national strategy. We need to stay vigilant and be wary. It’s likely to be a further twelve months before the vaccination programme can lead to confidence in the community. That’s not to take away from the great job we’ve done over summer. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world that enjoyed a traditional festive season at home. Let’s continue to work hard to keep COVID-19 out of our community until we are all protected by the vaccine. Ngā mihi, Vince.
VINCE BARRY, CEO / MANUKURA PEGASUS HEALTH
In this issue:
› No summer holiday for health students | 2 › New Year’s honour for health and business work | 3
› Don’t forget to protect yourself from measles | 5 › New Health Hub for Inspire Health | 6
› Suicide prevention is everybody’s
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PEGASUS 2025 I S S U E / P U TA N G A 7 N O S U M M E R H O L I D AY F O R H E A LT H S T U D E N T S Pegasus Health welcomed five health students as part of its new ‘Students in Over Summer Programme’ in early December. Each student is working on a different kaupapa (research project) with mahi (work) scheduled to be shared early February. The new 10 week programme was initiated by Pegasus Hauora Māori Manager Melody Tuliau and is a combined endeavor with the Pegasus Equity Leadership Team and the Clinical Lead for Social Work. “Students in Over Summer is part of Pegasus’ commitment to threading equity and Te Tiriti o Waitangi through all we do and how we work. Project findings and recommendations will be fed back to our advisory committees,” says Melody. This year’s students and projects are: Aquila Chua - 4th year Medical student Mapping barriers to professional registration for overseas trained Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Health (CALD) professionals Elizabeth Harpur - Social Work Student Equity in Cervical Screening Jon Jeet - Education student Pasifika Health Literacy resource bank Ranareth Tha - Master of Social Work (Applied) student and Jean Hur, Social Work student Family Harm support in Primary Health
Health students Ranareth Tha (left) and Jean Hur are investigating ‘Family Harm support in Primary Health’ as part of Pegasus Health’s ‘Students in over Summer Programme’
Q&A with Pegasus Hauora Māori Manager Melody Tuliau Why have you created the ‘Students in over summer programme’? Pegasus Health is always looking to add diverse views to its bank of information. It opens the students’ eyes to another level of health and provides Pegasus with a different viewpoint on how primary health is being provided to our whole community. How does Pegasus support it? Students receive funding, are provided with mentoring and encouragement, a physical place to work, the opportunity to network with health professionals and access to data. Pegasus also provides a forum for their findings to be shared. You can check our website next month for summarised results. What happens to the research once it is completed? The students will present their findings next month. Written reports will be provided to our advisory groups – Te Kāhui o Papaki Kā Tai, Population Health Advisory Board, Clinical Quality Advisory Board, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Health Group and Pacific Reference Group.
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PEGASUS 2025 I S S U E / P U TA N G A 7
What have been some of the successes of the programme so far? We’re still waiting for the reports but I’ve been impressed with our students’ interest in primary health care preventative measures. Watching as they expand their primary health knowledge and discover connections between study and experience has also been inspiring. How does a health student indicate their interest in this programme? ‘Students in over summer’ is closely linked to the Pegasus Health Scholarship programme. Scholarships are available for Christchurch-based tertiary institution students who are studying a health-related NZQA accredited course, are from a Māori, Pacific or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background and planning to work in the Canterbury region. With this being our first year of the summer students programme we’re looking to further refine and improve it. You can find more information on the scholarships on our website.
N E W Y E A R ’ S H O N O U R F O R H E A LT H A N D B U S I N E S S W O R K Congratulations to Dr David Kerr who has been conferred with a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health and business. Dr Kerr was a key player in the creation of Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd in 1992 and has held various positions in health and community organisations. David says he’s had a fabulous career starting as a general practitioner where he got to know his patients and their families, and then been able to move into different industries. “I’ve always had a hankering for things other than medicine. Being a general practitioner can be overwhelming and when I was practicing it was a dawn to dawn service. I have a tremendous respect for doctors today, trying to maintain their relationships with their patients while managing the business,” says David. David has taken his leadership experience from Pegasus Health, to Ryman Health Care, Forte Health, Pharmac, Eco-central (waste management), Ngai Tahu Property and the NZ Medical Council. “I’ve learnt to never turn down a coffee or a chat, you never know where that meeting will take you,” says David.
Dr David Kerr has been recognised for his services to health and business
He will receive his Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit at a ceremony at Government House in March.
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PEGASUS 2025 I S S U E / P U TA N G A 7 SUICIDE PREVENTION IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS Canterbury communities affected by suicide are benefitting from a newly formalised collaboration between Pegasus Health and He Waka Tapu’s Kia Piki Te Ora team (Māori Suicide Prevention Coordinators). The Pegasus Health Suicide Prevention team leads, coordinates and puts into place suicide prevention activities in efforts to reduce the number of suicides and attempted suicides in Canterbury. It also steps in, as requested, after a death by suicide to support affected communities. The He Waka Tapu team provides suicide prevention activities by addressing the risk factors most relevant for Māori and by building strong communities. Pegasus Health Suicide Prevention Coordinator, David Cairns, says the Pegasus Health-based team has always worked alongside and held in high regard, He Waka Tapu and the Kia Piki Te Ora Cordinators. The lack of a formal arrangement and limited capacity has meant that, up until now, interactions between the two groups have only happened on an ad-hoc, as-needed basis. The new collaboration has come about thanks to funding provided by the Ministry of Health. Kia Piki Te Ora Coordinator, Jayden Iti is working at Pegasus Health one day a week,
contributing his knowledge and skills to the team, particularly with regards to Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). The team of four works closely together to share resources and experiences to strengthen the support they offer communities within the shared kaupapa (programme) of suicide prevention. The data shows that Māori are disproportionately affected by suicide. Provisional suicide data for 2019/2020 indicates Māori suicide rates were 1.7 times higher than non-Māori rates, and so it is vital that suicide prevention activities are heavily informed by Te Ao Māori. “Working with Pegasus Health means I regularly sit down with the team to talk about tools we are developing, how we can do things better and areas we think can we do more in. Suicide prevention is everybody’s business and only by each of us playing our role can we provide the support that is needed,” says Jayden. David says that one goal of this joint initiative is to successfully demonstrate how agencies can work together for the benefit of the community. “We’re hoping that our collaboration with organisations like He Waka Tapu can strengthen our work and the support we offer. We’d like to provide an example to other groups sharing this kaupapa that we can have a greater impact by working more closely together,” says David.
Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi. With your kete and my kete the people will thrive.
From left: Elle Cradwick and David Cairns from the Pegasus Health Suicide Prevention Coordinators team with Jayden Iti, Kia Piki Te Ora Coordinator. Not pictured: Pegasus Suicide Prevention Coordinator John Robinson
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PEGASUS 2025 I S S U E / P U TA N G A 7 DON’T FORGET TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM MEASLES Pegasus Health Immunisation Coordinator, Cheryl Brewer says that with the rush on to protect our population from COVID-19, vaccinations for other potentially deadly diseases may not be on people’s radars. The Ministry of Health embarked on a Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination campaign shortly before Christmas. Pegasus Health is working with Canterbury District Health Board to support the campaign by getting the word and promotional materials out to its member practices to encourage people, particularly 15 – 30 years old, to make sure they have been fully vaccinated. “We know that people in this age group may have not received the MMR vaccine or only one dose of it Pegasus Health Immunisation Coordinators Cheryl Brewer (left) and Kerrie Hutchings are due to anti-vaccination statements helping to promote the MMR vaccination message to our communities made at the time. We also know that after one dose of MMR vaccine 90–95 out of 100 people will be protected from measles, 69–81 protected from mumps and 90–97 from rubella. With a second dose protection increases. Almost everyone will be protected from measles and rubella, and around 85% protected from mumps,” says Cheryl.
TU C E T O R POUR WHĀNSALES
Measles is a serious disease. Many people may only think of it as producing a temperature and a bit of a rash. It can lead to ear infections and deafness, pneumonia, encephalitis and brain swelling which can lead to permanent brain damage.
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T MEA AGAINS UNISED GET IMM R FREE O HERE F
“The best thing you can do if you are not sure whether you have been fully vaccinated against MMR is to check with your General Practice team. There’s no harm in receiving the vaccination a second time,” says Cheryl. Vaccinations are free and the goal is to get these done before COVID-19 and Flu vaccinations are available.
ight not 0? You m Aged 15-3 d against measles. . te re ec be prot ian of the Futu tect ard Be a Gu yourself to pro e ut. Immunis s you care abo the one
More information about the vaccination can be found on the Ministry of Health website.
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PEGASUS 2025 I S S U E / P U TA N G A 7 N E W H E A LT H H U B F O R I N S P I R E H E A LT H Increased patient demand has led to a new health centre in Yaldhurst, Christchurch. Inspire Health Medical Practice was opened by husband and wife GP team, Eugene Sia and Evelyn Pui in Ilam in January 2018. Opening a new medical practice, as with any new business was a bold move and not without risk. It proved to be a great business decision and within six months the practice had more than 2000 enrolled patients. They were able to get the business started with the help of their core team members, practice manager, Doris Chua and nurse manager, Sharon Tay. The team did not anticipate the rapid growth in numbers and had to make the tough decision to close their books. “We had limited space at Ilam and could see that if we were to meet the demand we needed to expand,” says Doris. The team investigated a new build, customized to their needs and able to accommodate other health services. The building was officially opened by Mayor Lianne Dalziel on Tuesday 19 January in Yaldhurst. In addition to the medical centre, the 1000 square metre building offers a pharmacy, café, physiotherapist, dentist, podiatrist and acupuncturist. It is also a multi-cultural practice with around 55% of its patients of Asian descent. The team can communicate with patients in a variety of languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and Foochow. Eugene and Evelyn now lead a team of 12 staff and additional two GPs. The practice currently has more than 2400 patients and are excited to be able to take on new patients and serve the needs of the community. Eugene Sia says that they are looking to expand further. “We are looking at building a specialist health centre next door. We are so pleased to be able to offer these health services to our community.” Pegasus Health Practice Support Liaison, Louise Matson, works with the practice to offer Pegasus support. She says it is an absolute pleasure to support the Inspire team. “I’ve supported Inspire since they first opened. It’s been great seeing all their meticulous, thoughtful planning for their new medical centre come to reality. I’ve always been impressed with the respect and dedication they have for their patients,” says Louise.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel (centre) opens the new Health Hub in Yaldhurst with GPs Evelyn Pui (5th from left) and Eugene Sia (6th from left). Pegasus Health 2025 is produced by the Communications Team at Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd. Content within Pegasus Health 2025 newsletters has been included with the approval of content providers therefore please contact us if you wish to reproduce or alter and transmit any of the information or images contained within. Steve Addison, Head of Brand and Communications, Pegasus Health steve.addison@pegasus.org.nz 29 JANUARY/ KOHITĀTEA 2021
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