ProCare announces appointment of Kaiwhakahaere Māori role

ProCare, New Zealand’s largest network of primary healthcare professionals, is delighted to announce that after an extensive search and selection process, it has appointed Mihi Blair (Ngāti Whātua) as its new Kaiwhakahaere Māori - Head of Māori.

This appointment comes just a few short months after ProCare launched its internal equity strategy which outline the organisation’s commitment to align to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and deliver key actions to help improve equity in healthcare. The role will form part of ProCare’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and will report directly to the Group CEO.

Bindi Norwell, Group CEO at ProCare says: "We are delighted to have appointed Mihi in this important role. ProCare’s vision around equity requires a shared commitment and collective process across ProCare, as well as building authentic and collaborative relationships with Māori, Pacific and wider diverse population groups. Mihi will be instrumental in helping to deliver on this vision and help drive change.

"Mihi’s appointment is one of the key steps in our equity transformation plan as we look to establish new roles, and redefine some existing roles, to align to Te Tiriti and start to move forward in our equity journey," she continues.

"Throughout this process, Mihi proved that her pragmatic, open and honest leadership style, mixed with her strong operational knowledge and understanding of the health and social sectors, made her a standout choice over other applicants. She has an excellent grasp of the complexities of health inequities and the opportunities and barriers involved.

"With her existing knowledge of ProCare, our network, and wider stakeholders, Mihi will play a significant role in ultimately helping us to reducing the barriers Māori currently face in healthcare and help to build positive health impacts for Māori in our community," she concludes.

Commenting on her appointment, Mihi says: "Everyone has the right to live a healthy life in Aotearoa but that is not the reality for many Māori! We never asked to be in this place of inequity and part of the work I will be looking to do is help to drive change and pave the way for better health experiences and outcomes for whānau.

"The time to make this change is now, or else our people will end up in an even worse situation than they are now - we cannot afford for the gap to get any wider. In my role as Kaiwhakahaere Māori I will be fighting hard and to take a stand on the issues that matter." she continues.

"I applaud the willingness of ProCare to take on this mahi and to walk alongside our people to achieve better health outcomes for our people," she concludes.

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