Maori Health Statistics

This week, I wanted to write a bit about the Maori health indicators and statistics that the Ministry of Health  in New Zealand have posted, and were shared with me at the Treaty of Waitangi Training that I attended. First, some basics: 565,329 people identified themselves as Maori, 14.6% of the total population compared with 434,847 in 1991.  The median age for Maori was 22.7 years-compared to total population median of 35.9 years.  35.4% of Maori are under 15 years old, making that 21.5% of the total population-much younger than the non-Maori population.

84.4% of Maori lived in urban areas and 23.7% said they could hold everyday conversations in Maori.

In the educational realm, 39.9% of the over-15 year olds had no educational qualifications.

This is one of the statistics that really caught my attention:  In 2001, life expectancy at birth was 69 years for Maori males and 73 years for Maori females, while life expectancy at birth was 77years for non-Maori males and 82 years for non-Maori females-an overall difference of eight years for both genders of Maori individuals.  Many of the causes for disability and illness are cardiovascular disease (2 1/2 times higher, cancer (2x more than non-Maori) and diabetes (2 1/2x higher).  Maori had higher suicide mortality rates than non-Maori (over 1 1/2 x).

There is a great focus of trying to change these statistics, and education and services are a priority for many of the District Health Boards, directed by the Ministry of Health.  I wonder how these statistics compare to our Alaska Native groups.  From my own experience, it appears to be some similarities in these groups of first people.  I hope that I can be part of the process to change these statistics for the better.

From the heart

I realized that I haven't blogged in a week.  I have started several ideas, some about entitlement, others about ethics, but today, I tossed them both aside, and wanted to just talk from my heart about the upcoming end of this internship and things that I have learned.  It has been an incredible learning and growing time for me, and I am so thankful for this opportunity.  Today was my formal evaluation with my Field Instructor, Mathew, and my UAA Faculty, Mary Dallas.  I felt that it went well, and it was a great opportunity for me to articulate some of the lessons that I have learned as I have been placed as a social work student full time for past 2 1/2 months.  I have had a great supervisor in Mathew-who has shown me the passion and dedication, along with the ethics and values that are core to the field of social work.  He has modeled for me the example of a social worker in the confines of a institutional setting who has not compromised his own values and goals, which sometimes comes in conflict with the other multidisciplinary teams or partners.

I am thankful for the down to earth quality that embodies the people that I have met here.  The video is of the 2010 World Sheep Shearing Champion, Cam Ferguson, as he competes in a regional shearing competition. It was an incredible community event to witness, and embodies the down to earth core of the individuals here.  I am so lucky.

Cannabis sativa L. marijuana

Well, this week was an interesting one for me as I thought about the conflict that exists at my internship site, and the conflict of policy and cannabis or alcohol.   I have been aware that the inpatients in the ward, have often used cannabis, while they have been there, but was interested in how they obtained it while residing in the hospital.  I have also heard at numerous ward daily meetings (average 3 times per week) that some of the inpatients on the ward had been using cannabis or drinking alcohol during leave granted or unauthorized leave (AWOL),  I  guess sometimes these substance have been passed through the window of the hospital bedroom, others have picked it up while they have been out on a pass.  On Friday, I had three inpatients request an escort to  go to the bank.  I thought it was interesting that they all needed to go at the same time.  It turns out that they owed money to another inpatient, who had given them some weed.  When the topic came up at the ward meeting, a resident psychiatrist asked the question that I had been thinking...are there any consequences for these actions?  I guess the hospital has a zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs, but if the ward followed the letter of the law, they would be kicking out individuals who may be involuntarily there or could be mentally very unwell, and thus put them more at danger to themselves or others.  It is very interesting and full of conflicts and ethics and complexities that are hard to suss out and figure out.  During supervision, we discussed this and talked about that the dilemma and the difficulty that the hospital staff are put in.  If also is confusing to think about the message that is sent to the inpatients who do not receive any consequences or need to accept responsibility for breaking the rule.  The whole thing is very complicating and difficult for this student to understand.

Here are a few articles/research that talks about cannabis and mental health.  It is definitely connected in some way, and my views have changed after seeing so many individuals who experience acute mental health issues connected to cannabis, among other substances. 

http://www.norml.org.nz/News/nandor_elected.htm

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1614.2006.01902.x/full