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THE COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the deep need for more culturally supportive care for critically ill Maori patients, a Waikato critical care nurse says.
Megan Stowers (Ngapuhi) had been providing cultural support to Maori patients informally in her various roles at Waikato District Health Board (DHB) critical care unit for years. After a conversation with critical care nurse educator Sarah Rogers last year, as COVID-19 emerged, they agreed to formalise her role as a Maori resource nurse.
While there was no salary attached and it was alongside her critical care nursing role, Stowers agreed to it, although it "feels very alone at times" she told Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand. "I just can't not do anything about this. It's heavy and I am burning out as a mum and a nurse, but I can't let our people come through our unit and not be there for them."
Stowers told the NZNO College of Critical Care Nurses in March that nursing Maori with COVID-19 had been "delicate, complex but honourable.
"The hard thing for Maori was [missing] the kanohi ke ti kanohi - face to face, rongo - the feel, smell and how you perceive a person, and tuhono - the...