Agencies initially 'failed RSE workers' - Debbie Sorensen

The head of the Pasifika Medical Association is criticising the initial support for RSE workers impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bay as insufficient.

Debbie Sorensen says she attended an interagency zoom last Friday where officials said RSE workers were all accounted for and looked after.

"That clearly was not the case," she says.

The PMA's Pasifika team had avoided the agencies' pitfall by speaking directly with RSE workers, employers and leaders to address their needs.

"It's important to get a good idea of what people need, rather than people just turn up and know what people need," says Sorensen.

They also offered mental health support to the RSE workers that extended outside Aotearoa.

"We have a network of mental health professionals in the region so that when [RSE workers] go back home, they've got people they can talk to as well," she says.

Sorensen says they have Jimmy Obed in Vanuatu, a psychiartrist supported by nurses so that he can provide care for RSE workers returning to Vanuatu.

She also says their team's history of providing disaster relief throughout the years, which has helped them navigate support for the RSE workers, has shown how resilient Pasifika are.

"We sent a mental health team to Tonga after the [volcanic eruption]. We sent a mental health team to Samoa for the measles epidemic. We sent mental health help to Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam.

"We're really resilient and we've demonstrated that all the time.

"If we continue to hold on to our faith, we'll be okay."