Reproduced from OMS Update Winter 2024

Eight rural doctors from across the motu experienced a “weaving together of culture and health” during a postgraduate residential workshop held in Hokianga in April.

From 18 to 21 April, the Waiwhakaata Wānanga Marae, the residential workshop component of the Otago paper GENA 725 Reflections in Rural Clinical Practice, returned to Whirinaki, home to Te Hikutū hapu. This was where the workshop first took place after shifting from Dunedin to Hokianga in 2006. The paper is one of a suite of papers making up the Otago Medical School postgraduate rural medicine programme.

Lead convenor for the paper, Dr Yan Wong, says this residential workshop is an integral part of the long-term partnership between Hauora Hokianga – Hokianga Health and the University of Otago –Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

The programme included clinical sessions on palliative care, mental health, old age psychiatry and communication in the rural provider setting. There were also community-led discussions about their medical needs, including “powerful” stories of dealing with chronic medical conditions.

Participants described the experience as “invaluable”, and a “weaving together of culture and health to reach a point where culture supports healthcare and healthcare supports culture”.