With winter well and truly here with storms and floods, so are many winter illnesses.
Covid-19 is still in the community and within the past 28 days 217 Māori died from its effects.
Manurewa Marae chief executive Takutaimoana Kemp says she has seen a rise of both Influenza and pneumonia in the community but has a plan to deal with it.
"Amohia ake te ora o te iwi ka puta ki te whaiao" (The health and wellbeing of the people is paramount), is a key quote the marae follows.
In the past two years Covid-19 has been the main marae focus for winter but this year is a little different as Influenza and pneumonia have made their way into the community and Kemp has seen the burden on whānau.
“We were just starting to recover and now we are into winter and it's a hard season. Our kaumatua are really affected and mokopuna, tamariki this time around, which is different from last winter."
Winter programme
The marae has put a winter programme together so whānau have the right resources to fight off the many winter illnesses.
That includes winter health checks through its partnership with Procare, in GP clinics in Manurewa. But it's more than just vaccinations. As well as offering the Covid-19 vaccinations, the second booster, etc, it includes a complete health check including blood pressure, anything really that whānau might feel that they need to have checked over this winter, Kemp says.
The marae wants to reduce any barriers of whakamā so people can go to the marae and access any service as many times as they need to, she says.
Even though times are hard, putting in the work for the community is worth it, she says.