Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust takes on Round the Roto steps challenge

Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust staff celebrate 2022 Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign. Photo / Supplied

Health for the health providers.

Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust is taking on a whole-of-staff health challenge, the largest wellness campaign the organisation has ever seen, to address the question of who looks after the people who look after everyone else?

Chief executive officer Willow Salvador has encouraged the initiative, saying it will bring benefits to her team of 82 staff who are burnt out and tired, after two-and-half years of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Māori kaiāwhina care too much," Willow says.

"The staff are terrible at having an outward focus to the detriment of their own health. Saying they will work themselves to death is not an understatement."

For the last six months, staff at Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust have had the opportunity to work with a health coach, Katie Jolly, and Willow says this has been a good starting point to addressing burnout.

"Katie maps out what's going on for them, and gives them the tools and resources to help them to look after themselves."

Being short-staffed is a nationwide issue in the health sector and Willow says they now view getting more staff as a medium to long-term goal.

Six months into the project, Katie has created a 12-week walking challenge called Round the Roto with the goal of encouraging a healthier workplace. Katie says one of the aims of the challenge is to get staff moving more in their workplace.

In the lead-up to the Round the Roto challenge, Katie has been sending out regular tips and tricks to staff so they are more health-focused with regard to their own physical, mental, and spiritual health, and also their family's well-being and self-esteem.

"Māori philosophy towards health is based on hauora, a holistic health model," Willow says.

She is supporting her own health by consciously spending more time with her whānau. She also has to support the staff's wellbeing and aims to lead by example.

For the Round the Roto challenge, each staff member has been invited to monitor their weekly steps to help their team walk metaphorically walk around Lake Taupō.

Each week the teams will tally up their steps, and the team that does the most laps around Lake Taupō within the challenge period wins the competition.

"With many office staff being sedentary during the day, we see more health issues arising. By consciously choosing to move more we can increase energy and overall wellbeing," Katie says.

Local businesses have jumped on board to donate spot prizes for the event including New World Tūrangi, Tongariro River Rafting, Rapids Jet, Taupo Bungy, Two Mile Bay Sailing Club, Chris Jolly Outdoors, and many others.

A second part of the challenge is earning points through healthy eating. This part of the challenge is being run by New World Tūrangi owner Danny Pickett who is creating incentives for the staff to make healthy meal plans.

At present, the supermarket is offering Simply Dinner meal kits to customers and Danny says supporting staff with meal planning will be a natural extension.

The final event of the challenge will see staff participating in a food challenge cook-off using the meal kits.

Danny says for the past two-and-half years the supermarket has worked closely with Tūwharetoa Health to provide food deliveries to people with Covid-19 during lockdowns and self-isolation.

"We were really happy to jump in and support our own local healthcare heroes," Danny says.