Tariana Turia

Health and Disability Forum; Porirua; Friday 28 August 2009

Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health

(delivered by Hekia Parata, on her behalf)

I was really looking forward to coming out here today.

Although it was only last week that I came out to Porirua for the most wonderful day celebrating women, there was a special reason that I wanted to be here today, at the Creek.

And that is a purely selfish reason - to become inspired and energised by a community which is leading the way with your theme, "healthy neighbourhoods with a common cause".

Sometimes the buzzing of the Beehive, the arguments of the debating chamber, the hectic schedule of cabinet committee meetings; question-time; briefings; interviews; caucus meetings and all the other busy-ness of the day, can just get too much.

It is those times when I long for occasions like this - occasions to motivate us all to keep health and wellbeing outcomes right at the fore. Occasions in which rejuvenation is the most important goal.

It was so exciting to learn of your plans for a community garden in Waitangirua; which in itself has been inspired by the garden club at Cannons Creek School and Te Maara at Cornwall.

And I want to congratulate the Porirua Healthy Safer Community Trust; the Waitangirua Action Group; the Porirua City Council and Housing New Zealand for the commitment you have made to establish a community garden here, right in the midst of Cannons Creek.

The seeds that you plant at Waihora will manifest into fresh vegetables; food for the table.

But it will also provide food for the soul - lessons on sustainability; an example for future generations, the promotion of kaitiakitanga; healthy physical exercise and lifestyles, whanau ora.

Whanau ora is a pretty good reason to be here.

I was pleased that Dr Jeremy Krebs, Clinical Leader of Endocrinology and Diabetes, got to speak before me - to tell us everything we would want to know about the treatment and the services we could ever need in managing diabetes.

I want to share another view on an approach we may take to managing diabetes - or indeed liver disease; kidney failure; eyesight loss; cardiovascular disease, or obesity just to name a few.

It does not have to be the case that diabetes becomes an individual life sentence.

A diagnosis of diabetes is also a powerful way to mobilise the whanau into a focus on healthy lifestyle.

When I was diagnosed with type two diabetes about 18 months ago, I had a period of to some extent, disbelief and despair as I thought through the implications.

But while my imagination was going into overdrive, my whanau all around me were rapidly assembling a whanau healthy lifestyle plan.

My husband George, who does most of our cooking, started taking a far more critical look at what we ate.

And while he radically transformed our ideas about the evening meal, my daughter Lisa was watching over me like a hawk; swooping in with a plate overflowing with salad goodness, and giving me the eye if I even so much thought about eating something I shouldn't.

My teenage mokopuna would get up with me at the crack of dawn to go swimming - even if he seemed more interested in what we would eat for breakfast after we left the pool, he was still a good mate for me.

And of course for all my mokopuna, and my mokopuna tuarua - they provide me with the greatest reason in the world to make sure that being healthy becomes my most pressing priority as well.

Ultimately it is all of them, together, that serve to remind me that health and wellness is a whanau issue.

The best chronic disease management strategies will inevitably come unstuck unless they are supported at home.

And that is why the Porirua Healthlinks Trust plays such an important part in this community.

Together, your arms are linked, providing a strong and durable human net to protect and sustain the peoples of Porirua.

The partners within Porirua Healthlinks - the Porirua City Council, Ngati Toa, Pacific Communities, the Ministry of Health, the Porirua Healthy Safer City Trust, the Porirua Community Health Group Forum, and the Porirua Health Partnership - are all driven by the same goal - the fierce desire to achieve better health and wellbeing for Porirua.

By linking together, you are expressing that the people matter - they deserve better access to services; they deserve services which are integrated and work together not competing against each other.

I really like the concept you have taken on as Healthlinks.

The secret to your success is to be proud of the relationships you've created and the people with whom you have been linked. I am proud to be yet another link in this chain.

But your links are also about extending a generosity of spirit towards not just the conventional patient, but to all whom come with them. It is about forging links into the homes of this community; linking one another so that while baby may be the reason you call, the health of Nanny and Koro are also valued as the very essence of life.

That is what I believe whanau ora is all about - the wellspring of health that flows through the blood of our families; the warmth of our homes; the strength of our communities.

And I want to mihi to you all for the work done across this community on some many levels.

Of course we all know about the amazing Creekfest - and all of the activities and stalls expressing the rich cultural diversity of this community - and promoting healthy lifestyles at the same time. There's Shake It, Beat It - bringing music and dance together to increase health and fitness. I'm told there's six Pasifika groups from the Creek and also in Newtown, including three primary schools - maybe if we're very lucky they might shake it, beat it for us today!

I know further up the Coast at Kapiti there's the Hora Te Pai nutrition project which includes a daily community based exercise programme.

And then of course there's a range of other community action programmes which incorporate initaitives such as workshops, blood glocose and blood pressure testing, and general advice.

And finally, of course, these forums on the second Friday of every month are a fantastic initiative to link out across the community; to promote the supports and services available, and most of all, to share stories, to compare notes, and to get inspired.

Thank you for inviting me to be part of this Diabetes Health Expo.

I absolutely believe that if we are to make a difference it must start in the home with our families.

And so if I was to offer one challenge to your theme - of healthy neighbourhoods with a common cause - it would be to place whanau ora right at the centre of every discussion about health; every strategy to promote wellbeing; every service to be delivered.

Tena tatou katoa.