Manatū Hauora adopts a new name for Allied Health

News article

14 October 2022

Manatū Hauora – Ministry of Health is adopting a new name for Allied Health – now called Hauora Haumi - for its own use as part of the organisation’s Māori naming convention.

The launch of the new name within Manatū Hauora coincides with this year’s World Allied Health Day, as we celebrate the tens of thousands of Allied Health professionals working across the motu.

Kia ora koutou whānau.

So October 14th is the day that we set aside to celebrate Allied Health Professionals day.

So if you're an allied health professional be you an audiologist, be you a sonographer, be you a speech language therapist, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, a psychologist or one of the fifty-nine other professions that we call allied health within Aotearoa New Zealand, can I just say one thing to you today - and that is, thank you.

Thank you for the work that you do, thank you for the care that you provide for people. It is appreciated, you are valued, you are integral to the services that we provide, so celebrate who you are on this day which is set aside for you.

Kia ora.
 

The Ministry of Health’s Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Dr Martin Chadwick says the new internal name – Hauora Haumi – is a prompt for a wider discussion within the sector reflecting moves to strengthen a partnership approach for all health professions.

“In te reo Māori, Haumi means ‘alliance’, ‘ally’, and ‘to join’. Haumi also describes the joints and materials used to combine the various sections of a waka. And in some iwi, Haumi was the name of an extension added to the front of a waka to increase its length.

“From my perspective, the translation Hauora Haumi communicates the indispensable nature of Allied Health to our waka and its journey.

He says there are now more than 30,000 professionals working in allied health, across at least 43 professions.

“It’s one of the largest collective professions in the health and disability sector. Every single day allied health professionals are on the frontline treating patients inside hospitals and in primary care and community settings.

Dr Chadwick believes the sector will become even more crucial as New Zealand’s health care system evolves.

Kia ora katoa. Ko Martin Chadwick ahau.

I'm the chief Allied Health Professions officer here at Manatū Hauora, the Ministry of Health.

I just want to take a couple of minutes if I could and just talk to you about the journey that we’ve been on within  Manatū Hauora around how we start to really think about who we are within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand and we've been in the process of looking about how we name ourselves and name the parts of the ministry and say Manatū Hauora is the Ministry of Health that is who we are but then I get to work with my clinical colleagues I get to work with the chief medical officer and the chief nursing officer.

And so one of the key changes in how we're naming ourselves is that we are naming ourselves as Ngā Āpiha Hauora so the clinical chiefs, roughly what it translates to. But then there's always a thing around Allied Health because Allied Health is a term that we've inherited and it's got a rich history but it's a history that we've adopted within New Zealand and it's a history which is really focused on leadership. So how do we provide leadership for the professions that are not nursing, not medicine, not midwifery and dentistry?

And so within the Ministry what we've done is really take the time to think about how do we articulate a term, a name for us that I can start to use within my role which more accurately reflects who we are and the cohesiveness and just the, the pure necessity of the professional group which is Allied Health.

So what you're going to see from me now on is that when I start to talk about Allied Health is I'm going to start using the term Hauora Haumi. Now to talk about the term itself, so, haumi when it's translated roughly means alliance ally and to join, but it also has got a very rich meaning in so far as that haumi is what is used within the making of a waka. It's made to join the waka together.

And I think that's really important because that describes the critical nature of Allied Health is that we bind together, we’re a critical and integral part of the services that we provide within the New Zealand Health System. It's also a term that is used to describe what a master carver would often do if they were extending a waka they would add a haumi to allow the waka to be bigger and I think that's a really nice analogy to use that by having the Waka big enough with Allied Health that allows us to take more people on the journey towards a concept of Pae Ora or wellness for all.

So I wanted to share that with you today because that's what I'm going to start using as a term within Manatū Hauora to describe the amazing group of people and professions I get to work with every day which is Hauora Haumi Allied Health

So October 14th is our day. That's the day that we get to celebrate Allied health professionals so I just wanted to acknowledge that and say the term that I'm going to start using from now on within my role Hauora Haumi to describe the integral nature of who we are in providing the services to Aotearoa New Zealand. Kia ora.

“Allied health is a big sector, with significant potential and we want to continue highlighting as much of the good work as often as possible in the years to come. We know the past couple of years in particular haven’t been easy for any one and our allied health professionals have often been the ones helping people in their journey to recovery.

“I also know those in the sector have been forced to think and work differently in the face of lockdowns and other public health restrictions – making more use of virtual and telehealth consultations for example,” says Dr Chadwick.

“It’s been a busy time for the profession, with the recent publication of Long COVID guidelines adding to the growing list of resources out there on the condition.

“Happy World Allied Health Day – this next year is going to be an even bigger one for the sector.”

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