Hospice Wairarapa work alongside the DHB Palliative Care Nurses (Kahukura), identifying any psycho-social needs that our patients may have.
Kahukura Palliative Care Service is the Wairarapa District Health Board funded palliative care team. Nursing advice and support is available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week with support from the 111 Ambulance emergency services. Kahukura brings together a team of health professionals experienced and trained in palliative care. The team is passionate about developing and maintaining the skills required to offer excellent palliative care and is able to access education opportunities through Hospice.
The palliative team works closely with your GP. While specialist consultant nurses have the primary day to day oversight of your care, they also support others in the care team to provide care, for example through working with nurses providing palliative care in residential care facilities. The team of people involved includes your GP, palliative district nurse, clinical nurse specialist, social worker; and may include a palliative specialist doctor, hospital physician, residential care nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, spiritual advisor. Other support services for example counselling may be provided by Hospice Wairarapa at the request of the caregiver or the patient.
The meaning of "Kahukura" Kahukura was formed through a partnership between the DHB, Te Omanga Hospice in Lower Hutt and Primary Care Services. The name of the service was gifted by local iwi. Kahukura: a course flax cloak worn as a means of keeping warm and dry (comfortable) despite the elements over which no one has no control
A cloak (korowai) that adorned chiefs, a treasured item across all tribes, its adornment provided warmth, safety and recognition
A rainbow (Te Anwaniwa). The rainbow especially signifies tranquility, beauty, reflection - inevitably after a storm
