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Kua mōhio kē ngā taringa ki te pepehā e mea ana, mā te hāpori te tamaiti e whakatupu, nā e hāngai tahi ana taua pepehā ki ngā koeke.
Ka tinihangatia tātou e te kaumatuatanga, he wareware ki te kai, me te horomi kai. Anā te painga o ngā tangata pēnei i a Renee Taylor, he mātanga whakatika reo kia kaha anō ai te tangata ki te kōrero. Nō Ngāti Hangarau ia. Ko tana tino whāinga ko ngā pakeke e mate ana ki te horomī kai rānei e uaua nei ki te horomī.
"Ko tāku noa he awhina i ngā kaumātua ki a tika te horomī kai me te unu kia kāua tētehi o rātou e raruraru, me te pēhi i maremare e kai ana te tangata".
"E ai ki ngā rangahau a ngā mātanga koia tētehi o ngā mate nui ka pā ki ngā pakeke, nā ko tāku he ātawhai i a rātou kia kāua rātou e hemo i tēnei tūāhuatanga".
Atu i tēnei he mahi motuhake hoki tāna, he mema ia mā te Poari o te hunga whakatika reo o Aotearoa, nā kai te whare wānanga o Tamaki Makaurau e pou-ako ana, whai hoki kai tētehi rōpū SLT.
Nā tēnei rōpū nei ia i tūtakitaki ki tana taha ki a Ngāti Te Roro-o-te-rangi ki a Whaea Josie Scott me Matua Rūkīngi Haupapa. Te pou tokomanawa o tēnei rōpū.
"Nō te toru o ngā tau ki muri i pōtingia ahau ki a tū ki tēnei rōpū ki Rotorua nā ka puta mai rāua ki te tautoko i ahau – mai tauā wā ki nāianei kai te tino whakapiritahi ai mātou katoa".
"Nā, ka haere hoki mai a Rūkīngi, he tauhou ki ahau i tauā wā, engari mai tāua wā kua kaha kē tana whakapiri mai ki tēnei waka o tātou me te ao whakapakari i tēnei āhuatanga taumaha.
Ko Rūkīngi hoki tetehi i roro-ikura engari he tika tana toto, ka maranga ake, e tū ana. Koia hoki tō mātou kaumatua engari rā tō mātou pou tokomanawa". " Me i kore a Rūkīngi i tō mātou pahi, kua uaua kē te haere".
Nō te tau e rua mano kotahi tekau mā waru i timatangia ai e Renee tana pākihi, he tohatoha i āna pūkenga ki ngā rōpū penei i te DHB o Counties Manukau i Tamaki Makaurau me ētehi atu wāhi.
Ka mutu tana mahi i te DHB i te tau e rua mano kotahi tekau mā iwa, engari e tū rangatira nei ia. E mahi tahi ana ia me tōna matua tane ko Dr Tane Taylor. Nā rāua tēnei pākihi i whakaara he kitenga nō Renee i ngā kaumātua e hemo ana i tēnei momo māuiui o ngā hōhipera me ngā kāinga whakatā mō ngā kaumātua.
"Nōku te whiwhi he tuahangata kē tōku matua tane, he mātanga, he pukenga, he rangatira ki te mahi me te ao pākihi otīā te taha ki te kaupapa here i te ao hauora nei. He takuta ia. Nā tana mōhiohio kua whakarewangia e mātou etehi kaupapa mana nui hai āwhina i tenei māuiui nui".
Kai Tairua a Renee me tana tāne a Maxy e noho ana engari ka whakawhiti ki Tamaki i ētehi rangi ki te mahi, ko ēra atu o ngā rangi kai te kāinga e mahi ana. Ka whakawhiwhia e ia ki tana tāhū whakapakari reo i te Whare wānanga o Tamaki Makaurau.
Whoi anō mō te wā itiiti nei ka nui tana pirangi ki te hāpai i ngā kāinga e whakatā ai ngā kaumātua, ko te pae tawhiti māna kia māori noa ngā aro whānui ki a tika ai te manaaki i ngā tangata katoa e māuiui ana i tēnei momo.
He wā uaua hoki te wāhanga māuiui korona ka nui ngā ture e noho tahi ana me ngā pakeke me ngā kāinga whakatā, ka tika hoki. " I taua wā o te rāhui kāore i whakaaengia kia uru atu ai māua ki ngā kāinga whakatā kai māuiui tetehi, nā reira i huri kē ai māua ki te hangarau o te ao hou nei – ka nui hoki ngā taumahatanga mēnā koe e matakerepō ana, e turi ana,e hika mā! E mea nei ahau kātahi te taniwha nui!"
Whoi anō ko te mea nui ki a māua ko te aroha ki te tangata ki te kore tēnei wairua ka ahatia ngā kaumātua. Kia mau tātou kia ū tātou, kia ita.
— Na Raimona Inia tenei purongo i whakamaoritia
People are familiar with the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" and that maxim applies equally to the well-being of our koeke.
Ageing can rob us of the basic functions including eating and swallowing safely.
This is where people like speech-language therapist (SLT) Renee Taylor come in.
The uri of Ngati Hangarau has a special interest in adult swallowing disorders, particularly of our older adults.
"Basically I help our koroua and kuia to be able to eat and drink more safely, and try to reduce coughing and choking at meal times.
"Aspiration pneumonia and choking are the second leading causes of avoidable death in aged care, and it's my job to help prevent them."
As well as running her own business, Renee sits on Aotearoa's Executive Board for Speech-language Therapists', work part time for the University of Auckland as a Professional Teaching Fellow, and am part of our officially unofficial Māori SLT rōpū!
It was that latter body that introduced Renee to her Te Roro O Te Rangi whanau, Auntie Josie Scott and Uncle Willie, and to the pou of their rōpū, Rukingi Haupapa.
"I was first voted onto the Speech Therapy Executive Board three years ago in Rotorua and they came to tautoko me there which was so special as I had only ever met them once before and they've been such important people on my journey since then.
"They also brought along Rukingi who at that stage I'd never met before! "Since then Rukingi has stayed super connected with our speech therapy world, he was interested in the work we did as a stroke survivor himself, and is now I would say, the most important pou for our entire profession, our Kaumatua!
"Our profession truly would not be where it is today without him."
Renee started her business in 2018, initially part time privately, and part time for Counties Manukau DHB in Tāmaki Makaurau. She quit the DHB job for full-time private practice in 2019.
She is in business with her father, Dr Tane Taylor. They set it up because Renee saw the need for help for kaumatua in resthomes and private hospitals.
"I'm lucky to have an amazing dad who knows his stuff when it comes to business and policy, especially in the health industry.
"He's a GP and together we have developed national standards for dysphagia care in aged residential care to help our older adults at a systemic and policy level."
Renee and her partner Maxy live in Tairua and travel into Auckland a couple days a week for mahi, and then do the rest from home.
She gained a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters in Speech-language therapy at the University of Auckland. There are undergraduate degrees for speech therapy too.
In the short term, Renee wants to help support as many individual rest homes and people who live within them to live well with dysphagia. Long term goal would be to see our standards be adopted nationally.
Covid was particularly hard because aged care sites were and still are quite strict on who comes in and out.
"During lockdown we weren't able to enter at all. All our consults had to be done via telehealth, but you can imagine how hard it is to deliver a telehealth service to people who struggle with vision, hearing, and may have impaired cognition, in the busy environment of a resthome with limited nursing staff to help implement the session… It was a logistical nightmare."
A motorcyclist overtook a car and struck Paige Johnson on a pedestrian crossing.