Officially, Hawke’s Bay’s most modern state of the art hospital will be called Kaweka Hospital.

As we get closer to opening Stage 1, we need to move forward and position as a hospital while also building upon our compelling story as to why we have chosen Kaweka as the name, which was kindly gifted by Ngahiwi Tōmoana of Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.

Our logo has also been refreshed and is based on a contemporary Māori culture design.

Our Board Director and Pou Tikanga, Conrad Waitoa, best explains the new look, saying that the symbol of tuakana-teina refers to the relationship between an older person (tuakana) and a younger person (teina) drawn from Te Ao Māori – the Māori worldview.  While these terms have their origin in the more traditional settings, we have used them to talk about relationships in our adult education contexts in Aotearoa.

For example, in Healthcare, you might hear people use tuakana-teina to talk about teaching and learning in four different ways:

• Peer-to-peer – Teina teaches teina, tuakana teaches tuakana.
• Younger to older – The teina has some skills in an area that the tuakana does not and can teach the tuakana.
• Older to younger – The tuakana has the knowledge and content to pass on to the teina.
• Able to less able – The specialist can teach the wider healthcare team.

Conrad also notes that the logo acknowledges the attributes of the Kaweka Ranges and the three main awa (rivers) – Tūtaekurī, Mōhaka, and Ngaruroro that flow past the Kaweka Ranges.

Lastly, the Kaweka represents the whare (the hospital); He aha te mea nui o te ao (what is the most important thing in the world?) He tangata, he tangata, he tangata (It is the people, it is the people, it is the people).  Therefore, Conrad saw the three lines as our people at Kaweka Hospital, the entire staff, including the board of directors and our shareholders, partners, and community.