Medlab a finalist in 2007 Māori Language awards

September 3, 2007

Diagnostic Medlab a finalist in 2007 Māori Language Week awards

Tackling the pronunciation of New Zealand’s longest Māori place name “Taumata-whakatangihangakoauauotameateturipukakapikimaungahoronukuripokaiwhenuakita-natahu” and weaving a kete (flax basket) were among the fun activities enjoyed by Diagnostic Medlab (DML) community laboratory staff during Māori Language Week 2007. The company was recently named as a finalist in the health category of the 2007 Māori Language Week Awards.

The fourth Māori Language Week Awards will be held on National Māori Language Day on September 14.

DML celebrates Māori Language Week as part of an innovative long-term education programme called Hikoi Tahi (Journeying Together in Harmony) which began in 2001.

Hikoi Tahi also has a serious side and it has, for example, increased awareness of the sacred (tapu) nature of bodily specimens to Māori among DML staff.

“Māori believe that blood is part of their family or whanau and the taking of blood must be handled sensitively. For example, to casually toss a blood sample into a basket is disrepectful – it’s like throwing a member of someone’s family around the room, ”explains Sharleen Peri, a member of the DML Māori Language Week team.

The awards, which are organised by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, recognise organisations who promote Māori Language Week each July. There are 19 awards and a health category has been included for the first time this year.

DML’s Hikoi Tahi is a voluntary programme which began under the guidance of Rangi Davis, Kaiarataki from Te Tairere Oranga, Sisters of Mercy Auckland. Originally a response to DML’s core values to acknowledge the Treaty of Waitangi and to be more customer-focused, the Hikoi Tahi has developed to embrace the relationships between Māori and all other ethnic groups, and the Māori Language Week component is now an eagerly-awaited event in the organisation.

Hikoi Tahi includes Māori health policy, initiatives aimed at improving Māori health, consultation, employment and training, Te Reo education, service delivery and specimen handling.

“For both Māori and non-Māori Hikoi Tahi has been a significant learning experience in our lives,”comments DML’s human resources manager, Naomi Johnson.

“Once our staff became more aware of Māori culture it raised everyone’s awareness of cultural needs. Māori aren’t the only people who want their specimens treated with integrity, and we understand those needs much better now,”she adds.

DML captured the 2007 Māori Language Week theme of tapoi (tourism) in New Zealand and “He Kōrero mō Aotearoa – On the road with Te Reo” with such activities as Māori Language Week packs in its 82 collection rooms complete with Māori place name maps; a brown-bag lunchtime talk by a niche Māori tourism company; a hangi lunch enjoyed by 65 staff; Māori music on hold; Māori signage including department names in Te Reo; a Te Reo-based wordfind puzzle; and a theme display in the cafeteria.

DML were winners in the 2005 and 2006 Māori Language Week awards in the business category and came runner-up in 2004.

Ms Johnson says the organisation has benefitted in many ways from Hikoi Tahi which has undoubtedly contributed to the very high levels of customer satisfaction recorded by DML.

“Our patients all expect to be treated in a way that is sensitive to their own particular culture and it is well accepted that success in health outcomes relates directly to patient understanding,”she explains.

Community laboratories play an important role in New Zealand primary health care, providing the medical analysis of fluid and tissue samples that allow GPs to diagnose specific conditions and prescribe the correct treatment with the aim of keeping people out of hospitals.

DML provides community laboratory services to the greater Auckland region. It employs 750 skilled staff including 36 highly trained pathologists. Within the workforce 42 nationalities are represented.

More than 400 staff work at DML’s Ellerslie laboratory where they carry out more than 35,000 tests for around 10,000 Aucklanders every day. The laboratory is one of the biggest and most modern of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

ENDS

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