Danielle Tangimetua is the Nurse Lead at Maxcare Medical Centre and the designated staff member responsible for cold chain management for the clinic.

She is also responsible for making sure all clinic staff are up to date with vaccinator trainings and aware of vaccine and immunisation updates.

Here, she celebrates Cook Islands Māori Language Week (4-10 August), and talks about why it's important to maintain the language, as well as the recent challenges and achievements in immunisation in the NZ Cook Islands Māori community.

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What do you love about your role in immunisation?

The opportunity to educate patients and their families about preventative care is one aspect of my work that I adore. My role has the potential to positively influence my community.

Why is it important for us to maintain and grow the Cook Islands Māori language?

We must continue to speak and use Cook Islands Māori reo  Our reo is in danger of disappearing and we as Cook Islanders need to ensure we are teaching our babies and children our reo and our culture.  

Our language is a representation of who we are and where we come from. Our reo and culture binds us as Cook Islanders and I am proud that I continue to use my reo at home with my daughter and at work with my patients.  

Often we find our pa metua (elderly) patients do not speak English very well and find it hard to communicate with our team. I am proud to be able to use my Cook Islands Māori reo to help them understand their treatment. And also puts a smile on their face that they can be understood without any difficulty.

Seeing an increase in early childhood centres teaching our reo  to our tamariki is a positive step to maintaining our reo and our culture here in Tāmaki Makaurau.  

What have been some of the challenges and achievements you have seen in immunisation for the Cook Islands Māori community in recent years?

An achievement would be when we saw our communities come together to run drive-through vaccination clinics during COVID-19. COVID was a tough time for everyone but our people rallied together to ensure our Cook Islands community were vaccinated.  

A main challenge for immunisations would be health literacy. Our people do not fully understand the importance of vaccination and preventative care. We as health providers need to find innovative ways to help our people to understand and be open to immunising their families.  

We have recently noticed that people are becoming more curious about vaccinations, as they have been asking more questions about them and their importance. Our role as vaccinators is important here for education delivery.

How do you think we can apply the overarching Pacific Island Language Weeks' theme of 'sustainability' to immunisation? 

A sustainable society is one where people enjoy long and fulfilling lives. Vaccines can help achieve this by reducing the risk and burden of disease.

Education is a powerful tool to ensure a sustainable society. Health providers need to ensure we educate our people of the importance of immunisations to be able to see our future generation prosper. Prevention is the best medicine for our pa metua (elderly) and our tamariki (children) so they live long and fulfilling lives.

What are some Cook Islands Māori words that would be helpful for people working immunisation to start out with?

Kia Orāna Warm Greetings/Welcome

Pe’ea koe? How are you? 

Meitaki ma’ata Thank you very much, I am very well, I am grateful.

Vaccine Vairakau

Vaccination Patia paruru

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