AUCKLAND, 11 May 2023 – A special Rally Your Village: Community Matters campaign is underway at the Pacific Hub in Ōtara to support South Auckland families prepare for winter with flu, COVID-19, and MMR immunisations.

The 12-week campaign is a collaboration between South Seas Healthcare Trust and community leaders. It includes events at the Pacific Hub during April, May and June with free food, music, giveaways, and trips to the rugby.

With two event activations complete, and the next starting on 15 May, South Seas Clinical Director Tagaloa Dr Andrew Chan-Mow says the response so far has been positive with thousands of people engaging with the Hub since late April.

“Our communities know what they need to thrive, and the families we support have told us that they value opportunities to spend time together with community – we have listened and created a winter illness campaign around experiences the whole family can enjoy.

“People in South Auckland are highly engaged with their “villages” of church, sports, school, and community groups, so working with our valued partners to deliver Rally Your Village is an important way for us to reach into community, beyond GP clinics, and give people confidence about coming forward for their immunisations.”

The Pacific Hub is a one-stop shop set up by South Seas and its partner network to connect the community to range of culturally appropriate health and social service providers, as well as nurses and GPs.

When guests arrive at the Hub, they complete a short health care plan, which connects them to different healthcare providers at the hub. It’s one way to help reduce capacity pressure on GP clinics by ensuring people can access the right support where and when they need it, and in ways that work best for them.

As part of last week’s campaign activation, anyone who pre-registered to visit the Pacific Hub and receive a health care plan between May 3 – 6 was gifted a free trip to the Blues Rugby vs Moana Pacific on 6 May. More than 2700 people pre-registered, with 174 families visiting the Hub over the week to pick up tickets, complete a care plan or get immunised.

The next phase of community outreach for the campaign starts on 15 May, with a build up to the Blues vs Hurricanes game on the 27 May. Anyone who visits the Pacific Hub between 24 – 27 May to receive their immunisations and a care plan will be gifted tickets to the game.

This experience-driven approach to delivering healthcare services is part of the South Seas focus on providing a holistic, culturally appropriate, and community-led model of care for its community.

“Our response to providing excellent health and wellbeing services for Pacific and all communities has evolved to be about more than purely health,” says Earnest Pidakala, South Seas General Manager – Clinical Services.

“As well as delivering an extremely high standard of clinical excellence for primary healthcare, our Pacific Hub connects South Auckland families to the broader health and social services they need, providing a supportive, integrated approach that delivers real results.”

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