ProCare, a leading healthcare provider, is excited to continue its partnership with Turuki Health Care, Taumata Kōrero and Ira Dot to encourage and support Māori tamariki getting their vaccinations, and boosters for those over 18 years old.

The partnership has gone from strength to strength to encourage and support the Tāmaki Makaurau region since uniting in 2021, with a collective pool of more than 800,000 people being targeted.

Information packs specifically for Māori whānau have been shared by ProCare in 167 practices across Tāmaki Makaurau. ProCare has also encouraged practices to send out texts to patients who are due for their vaccine or booster, notifying them of the vaccination drives in their area by Māori providers.

“Taumata Kōrero serves 200,000 whānau across Tāmaki Makaurau. To align forces with ProCare to awhi whānau Māori in a collective way across the rohe is a huge capacity boost as we collectively prepare our people,” says, Chair Huri Dennis.

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at ProCare says: “We have more than 800,000 enrolled patients in Tāmaki Makaurau, so we have a great opportunity to continue to help our eligible population in getting their vaccinations and boosters. Partnering with Turuki Health Care, Taumata Kōrero and Ira Dot to share their mahi with our networks helps raise awareness and gives our community, particularly Māori and Pasifika, guidance from trusted sources.”

This partnership began when the government announced the 90% vaccination requirement before Tāmaki Makaurau could start moving into the new COVID-19 Protection Framework. Now it’s reconnecting to encourage our community and whānau to protect each other from omicron.

Mihi Blair (Ngāti Whātua), Kaiwhakahaere Māori at ProCare, says: “We’re working closely again with Taumata Kōrero, Ira Dot and Turiki Health Care to share pono (honest) and tika (accurate) information with Māori so they can make informed decisions.

“Partnering with ProCare optimises the connections they have with the practices. We’re all on this waka together, so the more people we have spreading the word about how to protect our whānau, the better” Huri says.

Te Puea Winiata (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi), CEO, at Turuki Healthcare says: “The vaccine drives we held with our partners last year were a huge success, now it’s time to get our boosters and for our tamariki to get protected.”