Connecting with Maori nurses: last month's PAUA hui helped form bonds between Maori nurses working in Canterbury DHB and the community, and raised the profile of NZNO.

Memories of Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) Maori diabetes educator Ariki Hamilton suffused NZNO's second attempt to hold a hui with Ngai Tahu in support of its Positive Action in Unity and Aroha (PAUA) project.

The first hui with the iwi and Maori nurses of Christchurch was held at Rapaki Marae near Lyttleton in April. The business of the day was adjourned shortly after the powhiri and Hamilton's sudden death. The re-scheduled hui was held last month at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology's Te Matauranga Maori, with a powhiri ted by the school's tumuaki Miki Roderick. The 10-year-old wharenui, with its carved poupou towering to the ceiling, provided an inspiring setting for the 25-30 nurses who took part.

Many of the participants had known and worked with Hamilton and were very moved by the opening video (introduced by NZNO policy analyst Maori and PAUA team leader Sharon Clair) which captured images of her at Rapaki, shortly before her death. This set the scene for some good sharing and whanaungatanga between NZNO staff, members of the PAUA team and the nurse participants who came from a variety of private and public sector nursing positions.

Te Runanga o Aotearoa NZNO chair Anne McNicol, president Jane O'Malley and chief executive Geoff Annals introduced the day's purpose by describing NZNO's partnership journey to date and its commitment to continuing that journey. Professional services manager Joy Bickley Asher discussed the Maori nursing workforce and offered an analysis of why so few Maori were attracted to nursing. Part of the reason for the absence of Maori from the nursing workforce, she suggested, could be their not feeling culturally safe at work.

NZNO organiser Chris Wilson gave a presentation on NZNO's Pay Parity for Primary Health campaign, which will build on the success of the public sector multi-employer collective agreement (MECA). "Primary health care (PHC) wages, already well behind the public sector, will lag behind further unless we organise for parity," she said. The first PHC MECA would cover GP-owned practices, primary health organisations, independent practice associations, union centres, Maori and iwi providers. Wilson encouraged the PHC nurses present to support the campaign, in order to achieve a "well paid and valued workforce."

Four workshop sessions were led by PAUA team members. Auckland DHB neonatal nurse Peggy link led the first, which looked at ways of developing the Maori health workforce and helping Maori to see nursing and midwifery as positive career pathways. CPIT Maori health lecturer Marianne Klaricich said some Maori students just "scraped into" the nursing degree course and didn't succeed academically. "They have a different way of articulating their knowledge and understandings," she said. There was also little support for Maori students, many of whom "disappeared when things got too much of a struggle". Pegasus Health Maori health nurse manager Wendy Dallas-Katoa suggested more nursing role models going into secondary schools would be a good way to recruit Maori young people into nursing.

Two recommendations emerged: that the Ministries of Education and Health should work together to encourage and recruit Maori nurses and health workers; and that greater support for Maori nursing students could be gained through a change in educational environment, eg a marae-based nursing school.

Workshop two looked at the importance of trade unions and was led by Des Canterbury-Te Ngaruru. Dallas-Katoa described the isolation of Maori nurses, the majority of whom worked in the community. There was also a lack of knowledge about NZNO among most Maori provider nurses. "Belonging to NZNO can seem threatening to a small employer where most of the work is done on a whanau basis."

McNicol said there was a need to balance kaupapa Maori with the rights to good working conditions. "I used to work for virtually nothing. Those days have long gone." Canterbury--Te Ngaruru said NZNO faced a challenging task trying to build relationships with iwi providers. Recommendations called for NZNO to employ Maori organisers and professional nurse advisers to support the Maori health workforce and to build connections with iwi providers.

Kai Haapai the Rev Leo Te Kira and kuia Vera Morgan led the workshop on building relationships. The whakawhanaunga hui, held monthly at the Canterbury DHB and led by executive director of Maori health Hector Matthews, was an opportunity for all Maori health workers within the DHB to get to know each other. Recommendations included NZNO developing a presentation to introduce itself to groups within the DHB and community.

The final workshop--tikanga Maori for nurses--was led by Kai Haapai Koro and Te Auwe Te Paania. They encouraged the nurses to write down their own Maori cultural values, which would then be incorporated into a PAUA values book and eventually into NZNO's bicultural policies. Meeting each other and recognising the commonality of issues facing Maori nurses, both within the DHB and the community, were the main benefits of the hui, according to Christchurch Hospital Maori health services team leader Annette Finlay. "Even Maori nurses working at the hospital don't always meet each other. Having NZNO's profile raised has been great. NZNO has shown it is willing to listen to Maori nurses." Canterbury DH B diabetes nurse specialist Debbie Rawiri said she thought she would probably start working more closely with NZNO as a result of the day. "We usually only see NZNO around pay negotiation times," she said. A close colleague of Ariki Hamilton, Rawiri said the day had made her feel "really valued".