Southern Cross Healthcare celebrate Matariki with community clean-ups

Voluntary Matariki community rubbish cleanup in Mt Eden — The voluntary rubbish cleanup, Matariki ki te Taiao in Maungawhau/Mt Eden was attended by volunteers from Southern Cross Gillies Hospital, Southern Cross Brightside Hospital, Southern Cross Auckland Surgical Centre and Southern Cross Healthcare National Support Office.

To mark Matariki, the Māori New Year, Southern Cross Healthcare employees from around the motu have hit beaches and other open spaces over the past few weekends, volunteering their time to pick up rubbish and dispose of it responsibly.

Nanette Aratema (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa), who is Southern Cross Healthcare’s Kaimahi for its Auckland wholly-owned hospitals, as well as national Kaiārahi (Māori Ambassador), said the initiative brings together two of the organisation’s core responsible business pillars, environmental sustainability, and commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“Matariki reminds us of our deep connection to te taiao/the natural world and highlights our responsibility as tāngata/people to care for the planet, so it only makes sense that the two are celebrated together,” Aratema said.

“We want to encourage our people at Southern Cross Healthcare to find celebration in both Matariki and the environment through them making a small, yet meaningful, impact for communities in Aotearoa.”

Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital Matariki clean up — Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital concentrated on removing rubbish from Orewa Estuary. Family members pitched in and everyone was delighted that Mr Whippy was also in attendance.

All stars in the Matariki cluster represent health and wellbeing of people and the environment, Aratema said.

“Each whetu/star within the Matariki cluster represents different aspects of wellbeing and environment. It’s also important to acknowledge that in parts of Aotearoa, Matariki cannot be viewed because of location. However, Matariki is still celebrated, and iwi look for Puanga/Puaka as signs of the arrival of the Māori New Year,” she said.

“With some of our clean-ups taking part at beaches and waterways, we especially want to acknowledge how two of the stars of the Matariki cluster represent water. Waitī is the star associated with the health of freshwater bodies and Waitā is the star associated with the health of the ocean. Looking after the health of oceans and waterways is so important and this includes encouraging our people to do their best to prevent rubbish ending up in our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams, and in the end affecting all of us.”

Southern Cross Invercargill Hospital cleanup — The team at Southern Cross Invercargill Hospital did individual rubbish collections. Ward Manager, Amanda, and her family covered 200m of highway and removed 8 large rubbish sacks of rubbish.

Southern Cross Healthcare’s Head of ESG and Responsible Business, Greg Nelson agrees the clean-ups bring together the connection between Matariki and the health of the environment. He said Southern Cross Healthcare is focused on reducing its impact on the environment.

“It’s ironic that in trying to keep humans healthy, the hospital system generates quite a bit of waste, so at all our locations we are trying to reduce this output and our resulting impact on the environment,” Nelson said.

“Every day we’re working to recycle more plastics, repurpose single-use items and to reduce energy consumption at our wholly owned hospitals. We’re very aware that we need to play our part by taking care of our own environment and then see what we can do in partnership with all our people that’s effective beyond that.”

Southern Cross Rotorua Hospital rubbish clean-up — In Rotorua the weather was miserable but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm. Again families were involved but we hear the adults were the most compeititive about the amount of rubbish collected.