Māori experience a greater incidence of heart disease, poorer health outcomes and unequal access to interventions such as cardiac rehabilitation. Cardiac rehabilitation is about working with survivors of a heart disease incident, such as a heart attack, to promote their recovery, enable them to achieve and maintain better health and reduce the risk of an early death.

The Heart Guide Aotearoa is a home-based programme of cardiac rehabilitation designed to improve access to rehabilitation. The programme is being piloted by 5 Māori health providers, across 3 District Health Boards in the upper North Island. These sites were targeted for their high Māori population.

Each Kaitono has a Heart Coach, visiting them in their own homes, to develop personal goals and support them through a 3 month programme focused on improving, then maintaining, healthy lifestyle changes. This project aims to provide a home-based service to those who would not otherwise receive hospital based services.

Reducing the inequalities of access to rehabilitation is another step towards increasing the numbers of Kaumātua on our paepae!