The Northland Health and Social Innovation Awards are returning in November this year. Northland DHB has written quite a bit about it on their Facebook and in media releases.

The awards will recognise Hauora Maori, quality and improvement and social innovation, and I understand there is a new category to help the public thank primary healthcare workers – our busy nurses and rural doctors.

I enjoyed the last healthcare awards, in 2014, where 20 groups and individuals were recognised for their innovation in responding to issues like SUDI, de-escalating conflicts and better health and safety in the workplace.

You’ve got to remember, these awards aren’t merely Northland DHB patting itself on the back. Any organisation or individual in Te Tai Tokerau who has helped to improve any aspect of the community’s health can be recognised in these awards. For example, I’m on the board of NorthAble, so caring for disabled people is something close to my heart. I’d love to see some nominations for disability advocates. For example, Julia Hartshone has just set up Achieve 2 B to give people with mild disabilities the chance to have an exchange with another school; there is also NorthAble’s Navigation Services which should be recognised. This service facilitates interventions and support around opportunities for self-determination for families of disabled people to build and maintain resilience.

Our rural health doctors and nurses often work with limited resources and they will ford any river (sometimes barefoot!) and push their 4x4 vehicles through rough terrain if it means they can attend to patients on a lonely farm somewhere.

There are groups and individuals to be recognised for all sorts of things – Ngati Hine Health Trust is fighting to reduce suicides in the far North, we have people working hard in the interests of paralympians, diabetics, immunisation outreach, literacy, gout, breast screening, domestic violence... you name it, some brave Northlander is working to improve it.

I’m standing for Northland District Health Board this year and I encourage all my supporters to follow this link to recognise our community health heroes.

And to read more about the values of my wonderful team at Go-Whangarei, just follow the link.