Christchurch City Council supporting cultural diversity
Health information for elderly persons
Council staff participate in bi-annual hui and fono run by the Canterbury District Health Board, to provide health and wellbeing information for older Maori and Pacific Islands people.
An Older Persons Refugee and Migrant Health Issues group is supported by Council staff.
Further info: Cultural diversity
Improving Christchurch air
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The following community stories relate to the 'healthy city' outcome.
- Air pollution levels meet acceptable standards.
- Everyone lives in safe, warm and dry homes.
Christchurch's air pollution currently causes premature deaths, ill health and limits activities for people on an estimated 285,000 activity days per year. To improve this the government has set a national standard for air quality that Christchurch must meet by 2013. Currently Christchurch exceeds the standard on between 30 and 50 days per year during the winter.
The consequence of not reducing air pollution will have significant impacts not only on health but also on industry growth, the quality of social services provided for Christchurch people, and ultimately Christchurch people's standard of living. Not meeting this standard will significantly limit the ability to issue new resource consents for discharge into the air after 2013. This will affect industry as well as community services.
It is up to Christchurch residents to turn this situation around. It is known that 80 per cent of air pollution comes from burning solid fuel, mainly wood for home heating. Currently 50,000 homes rely on solid fuel heating. To be successful 35,000 burners need to be removed and alternative forms of heating installed by 2013. For the City to meet its clean air target about 80 per cent of participants need to convert to a clean heating form (heat pump, flued gas, pellet fires), as opposed to solid fuel heaters.
Partnership Health Canterbury and NutritionWorks
Intervening to reduce Type 2 diabetes
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- People of all incomes can access excellent health services.
Partnership Health Canterbury has partnered with NutritionWorks to provide a nutrition and lifestyle education programme for patients diagnosed with pre-diabetes symptoms.
Pre-diabetes is diagnosed by blood tests and is technically one of two conditions, Impaired Fasting Glycaemia or Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Pre-diabetes is when the blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. People who have pre-diabetes are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, but a healthy lifestyle can delay or even prevent this from occurring.
The programme, facilitated by a registered dietician from NutritionWorks, is jointly funded by Diabetes Christchurch and Partnership Health Canterbury and is currently held every second month. There is no charge to the patient or their whanau. The programme includes two group nutrition education sessions, plus a supermarket tour. Topics covered include an explanation of pre-diabetes, information on the recommended dietary pattern to manage pre-diabetes, weight loss, the glycaemic index, physical activity and food label reading.
Further info:
Partnership Health Partnership Health Canterbury
Intervening to reduce smoking rates
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- Rates of smoking decline, particularly among young people.
The PEGS Smoking Cessation programme is a general practice programme that has been effective in achieving and maintaining significant smoking quit rates.
The PEGS (Preparation, Education, Giving Up and Staying Smokefree) programme developed by Pegasus Health has now been expanded to all Partnership Health general practices.
More than 2300 people were enrolled in the programme in the 2005/06 year. Of these 56 per cent were female and 12 per cent were Maori or Pacific peoples. The average quit rate is between 22 per cent–33 per cent which compares well with other smoking cessation programmes nationally and internationally.
Partnership Health Canterbury is working in close collaboration with key stakeholder groups including SmokeFree Canterbury, General Practice groups and Community and Public Health to produce some exciting initiatives and service delivery in the area of SmokeFree.
Further info: Smokefree
Healthy Christchurch Initiative
Multi sector collaboration to improve health and well being
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- We all have access to affordable health services that meet our needs.
- More people in Christchurch live healthy lifestyle.
- Our city environment supports the health of the community.
Healthy Christchurch began as an intersectoral initiative (based on a World Health Organsiation model). Initially sponsored by the Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch City Council, Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu, Crown Public Health, He Oranga Pounamu, Pegasus Health, Christchurch School of Medicine and the Ministry of Health, and latterly also by Environment Canterbury.
The initiative now involves over 200 organisations who have signed The Healthy Christchurch Charter.
The aim of the Initiative is to provide a structure and process as a way to:
- Forge a common vision for a healthy city.
- Foster healthy relationships between diverse agencies and sectors in Christchurch, from 'grassroots' groups to government agencies.
- Enable flexible, collaborative and prompt responses to emergent health issues.
- Ensure all policy incorporates a health perspective.
The initiative recognises that all sectors and groups have a role to play in creating a healthy city, whether their specific focus is recreation, employment, youth, transport or any other aspect of city life.
The Charter was drafted by a wide range of groups following a thorough engagement phase in 2001.
In addition to the sponsors, the Charter and the network of Charter signatories, the initiative includes:
- Seven 'Champions' who provide visibility and mana to the initiative. Champions include such people as the Mayor of Christchurch and heads of the other sponsoring organisations.
- A steering Group comprised of ten people who represent sponsors and other signatories. The Steering Group provides oversight and guidance to the initiative.
- Adoption of priorities by signatories which motivate and focus collaboration.
- Paid staff who provide coordination and facilitation services to the network of signatories
- A newsletter that comes out ten times per year to which signatories contribute. These newsletters tend to focus on different aspects of the two priorities.
- An intranet that serves as an electronic networking tool and notice board for signatories' use.
- A website.
- Convening of hui, seminars, collaborative projects and the like to advance, for example, progress on the adopted priorities.
- Keeping the wider determinants of health such as income, education, transport, housing, behaviour etc on the 'radar' of all signatories on a continuing basis.
Further info: Healthy Christchurch
Healthy Christchurch project
Improving physical activity and nutrition
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'The Healthy Christchurch Charter signatories' first priority is to improve the physical activity and nutrition of people living in Christchurch. In order to achieve this numerous initiatives have been undertaken, including:
- Coordinators distributed Canterbury District Health Board’s 'Catering Guidelines' to all signatories and encouraged their use.
- In association with the Public Health Association, Healthy Christchurch held a day-long seminar on the obesity epidemic. A follow up seminar called Marketing Healthy Eating: The Great Divide, was held in June 2007.
- The Healthy Christchurch Steering Group submitted the obesity epidemic seminar proceedings to the Parliamentary Select Committee on obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
- Signatories have been given research-based information on what is effective when it comes to implementing physical activity and nutrition programmes for employees and/or clients as a way to enhance signatories’ work.
Further info: Healthy Christchurch
Korowai Whaimana
Improving mental illness recovery through increasing human rights understanding
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- People who experience mental illness are supported by strong service networks.
Many people with experience of mental illness are not aware of their human rights or how to access them and stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness are major barriers to a person's recovery from mental illness.
To help overcome mental illness related discrimination, in 2002 the Ministry of Health initiated a training resource and workshop guide called Korowai Whaimana.
Korowai Whaimana is a one-day training workshop run by people with experience of mental illness. The workshop aims to enable those who have experience of mental illness to understand the Human Rights Act 1993, in order to improve their access to employment, education, goods and services, accommodation and public places and facilities. This increases their opportunities to gain equity with other members of society.
Korowai Whaimana means the Empowering Cloak. Education is a vehicle for restoring mana and, in Maori terms, the cloak is the veil of understanding that gives you the power to act. The restoration of mana from violations of human rights is paramount.
The workshop covers information relating to areas of unlawful discrimination, such as employment, housing, gaining insurance, parenting, education and access to goods and services (for example mortgages), which often are denied to individuals for no clear reason other than their experience of mental illness, whether current, historic or assumed.
There are currently seven trainers in Christchurch and this year they have delivered 27 workshops or presentations to the community. Each participant receives a Korowai Whaimana certificate at the end of the workshop.
Healthy Christchurch project
Improving the health status of the worse off
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More people are physically active.
Rates of obesity decline.
Everyone lives in safe, warm and dry homes.
In early 2006, an intersectorial working party was formed with the intention of reducing health inequalities for people in Christchurch who are worse off. Representatives were from Christchurch City Council, Birthright Christchurch, University of Canterbury, St Albans Residents Association, Council of Social Services, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry for Social Development, Canterbury District Health Board and Christchurch Community Gardens Association.
The five workshop topics were:
The outcome of the May 2006 Not Just Talk forum was the emergence of two groups to collaborate on the first two of the five topics listed above:
Mitigate the impact of high accommodation costs on people with low incomes
Paying reasonably high rent for a substandard property can add financial burdens such as higher power costs, and the need for doctor's visits. The project team working to address this situation includes representatives from Tenants Protection Association, Christchurch City Council, Rowley Resource Centre, Work and Income, Real Estate Institute, Disabled Persons Assembly, and Youth and Cultural Development.
Tenants Protection Association and Work and Income are drafting a proposal that will involve inviting Work and Income clients to participate in a pilot project. The pilot is designed to educate those agreeing to participate (and their landlords) about housing standards, and then working with the landlords to make needed improvements.
Mitigate the impact of high power costs on people with low incomes
The project team working to address this situation includes representatives from the Ministry for Social Development, Electricity Commission, Mayor's Welfare Fund, Community Energy Action, and Community and Public Health (a division of the Canterbury District Health Board).
So far, this group shares information as to what is currently happening or is planned for Christchurch. There are several projects, either planned or ongoing, to address this issue. The group is looking for gaps in the various approaches, with a view to design a suitable response.
For further information view the Healthy Christchurch website.
