Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Iwi say give us the tools, we can do the mahi

Te Korowai o Ngāruahine Trust Pouwhakarae Paula Carr was one of many working on site at a Ngāruahine Iwi Health pop-up Covid testing clinic in Stratford on Saturday.

Give them the tools, and they will do the mahi.

Since Covid-19 was first detected in the town's wastewater earlier this month, Ngāruahine Iwi Health has been running daily pop-up testing clinics in Whakaahurangi Stratford.

The team have been determined to get as many people in the community tested as possible. With wait times sometimes reaching two hours as cars lined up at the testing site, the team have been working as fast as possible thanks to the tireless efforts of their staff and volunteers.

Te Korowai o Ngāruahine Trust pouwhakarae Paula Carr was one of the team members on site on Saturday, swapping her usual title for a more mundane one for the day.

"I'm just here to be a runner, help with admin, whatever is needed."

Despite long waits at times for people to get tested, there has been a positive vibe with people happy to get tested, says Paula.

"The feedback and support from the community has been really good. We know people want to be able to get tested in their town, not have to go somewhere else, and they have been really patient when that has meant waiting in their car for a while."

The all hands on deck attitude shows across the team, with 20 plus people on site daily over the weekend, all there with one goal in mind - to make sure people get tested and any hidden cases of Covid-19 in the community are identified.

The pop-up clinics are open to everyone, says Paula, but there is no doubt iwi run clinics are particularly effective in encouraging Māori members of the community to come and be tested.

"We know when iwi and Māori organisations are involved in the response there is a higher chance members of the Māori community will come along.

"They know what they will get, what to expect, and that helps break down barriers, right down to the fact they can come and talk to someone in their own language, and they can come for a yak. If they aren't sure or want some questions answered, they know they are welcome to come and talk to us and we can provide them the information which can contribute to them making their own decisions in regards to their health."

With plenty of hands on deck to do the mahi, they could do even more if those hands were given extra tools, says Paula.

"The more swabbers we have on site, and the more devices we have to load the patient details in, the more people we can test each day."

With only one nurse (Ngāruahine Iwi Health Services general manager and nurse Warren Nicholls) of their own, the clinics are supported by the Taranaki District Health Board (TDHB), to get more testers (swabbers) on site.

The TDHB provided them with more devices as well over the past few days, which also helped as the team worked their way through a record-breaking 342 tests on the Friday.

"We can enter those details by hand, but it's slower, and we really want to streamline things as much as possible. The more swabbers and devices we have, the more people we can test, it's that simple. We are here to do the mahi, we just need the tools."

Like their page: www.facebook.com/Ngaruahine/ to stay up to date with all test locations and times.