Breadcraft workers in Masterton will get some extra paperwork with their payslips this Friday.
Health surveys will be slotted into Breadcraft workers payslips in an effort to glean more local health knowledge.
The initiative is designed to gather information from the wider community, not just the health sector.
"Often these surveys are filled
out predominantly by health workers and we want to try and get responses from a wider cross section of the community," Darryl Oldfield, survey designer from the DHB Planning and Funding team, said.
This is the first time this novel approach to canvassing has been taken and Mr Oldfield said other big employers in the region have already been approached and asked if they would like to be involved in the surveys-in-payslips scheme.
Breadcraft is one of the regions biggest employees and the health survey is designed to glean localised knowledge about health issues specific to Wairarapa people.
"The survey is designed to get people's views on the health of our region, as part of a district-wide canvas of people's understanding and perceptions about health," Mr Oldfield said.
"Every three years, the DHB does an in-depth study to look for the most important health issues for our region, and measure change from our previous study," he said.
"This year, we are doing it slightly differently. We've got together with our neighbouring DHBs to pool resources, and we are doing 'local' survey to support this.
"We know that 'chunked up' statistics can only tell us so much, and what is often missing is people's local knowledge of what is really happening in our communities. That's what this survey is trying to capture," he said.
"We want to hear back from 500 people by the start of October, that'll give us a real slice of life in Wairarapa," he said.
"Breadcraft was happy to hand out these surveys with our workers payslips," the company's general manager Peter Rewi, said.
"We have a good record of community involvement, and we realise how important it is to have a community-wide approach to health.
"I believe our staff are in a good position to give valuable feedback through the survey," Mr Rewi said.
