Many Māori will prefer to die at home and whānau often prefer to

Many Māori will prefer to die at home and whānau often prefer to take their terminally ill relative home, although, as with other groups in DMXAA order society, the pressures of urbanization and geographical spread of modern whānau mean that this should not be assumed. When an individual prefers to die on their tūrangawaewae (tribal land) this may be geographically distant from their

current place of residence and/or rural. Good palliative care is likely to be facilitated by a heath care professional assisting the patient and whānau with finding appropriate health care services in their chosen place of death, for example identifying a local general practitioner and referring to local palliative care services. Community palliative care services may be more acceptable than inpatient hospice care to many Māori. In hospital or hospice, whānau and patients should

be offered a single room and access to appropriate spiritual and cultural support. As autopsy can be particularly distressing to Māori it is appropriate to prepare whānau in advance if referral to the coroner and/or autopsy is likely to be necessary and explain PD98059 why.[9] Care of the tūpāpaku (deceased) can be a particularly sensitive area as it is generally highly ritualized in Māori culture. Whānau may have specific cultural and spiritual practices they wish to observe around handling of the body, including washing and dressing and staying with the tūpāpaku as they progress from the ward, to the mortuary and to the funeral director then marae. The way in which the tūpāpaku is transported is also significant to many Māori, for example wrapped in allocated linen, feet first and following a pre-determined route away from public thoroughfares. Blessing the room the tūpāpaku died in with a karakia prior to cleaning may also be appropriate. Lck Again seeking advice from local kaumātua and specifically asking whānau is likely to be the best way to

avoid causing inadvertent offense by breaching protocol.[9] Individual patients and whānau may wish to use rongoā (traditional Maori methods of healing) to achieve their goals of care. Considering the Whare Tapa Whā model, rongoā may be valued for their contribution to aspects of well-being other than physical health. Local kaumātua (elders) can advise on local practice. The handling of food, taonga (valuables), the head and human waste are areas to be aware of. Generally, food and medicines for human consumption should be kept separate from items for general use, for example microwaves or refrigerators should be used for either food preparation/storage or non-food uses (e.g. heating wheat bags), not both, tea towels should only be used for drying dishes and tables should not be sat on.

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