Newly announced King’s Honours recipients Total Healthcare executive trustee Dame Ranjna Patel and our CEO Mark Vella are devoted to improving the lives of others.
Dame Ranjna became a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order for her service to ethnic communities, health and family violence prevention. While Mark became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his service to mental health and earlier career in disability support.
Dame Ranjna constantly seeks ways to improve the lives of all people under-served in society and shines a light on many unseen issues in ethnic communities.
Just over 10 years ago Dame Ranjna founded Gandhi Nivas – the first New Zealand family-harm reduction initiative to provide free 24/7 wrap-around services that give men the opportunity to engage in early rehabilitation and support to women and their families to help keep them safe.
She also co-founded one of New Zealand’s largest primary healthcare providers Tāmaki Health (Total Healthcare’s service provider) and helped its growth from a single clinic in Ōtara to a major network of clinics and an online service together now serving more than 300,000 patients.
Dame Ranjna also founded Mana 4 Mums that assists under 23-year-old pregnant Māori and Pasifika women in South and West Auckland.
Never one to sit on the sidelines, she truly believes the more you give back to the community, the more you will be rewarded, so long hours volunteering are part of her DNA – along with not giving up!
“If you listen to people at the grassroots and work out a solution that works for them, you are more likely to get buy-in for a process that's completely different,” Dame Ranjna says.
“You also need to innovate and tackle issues at their root causes to make true change. For example, to address family harm I believe you must work with those who perpetrate it to help support long-term behavioural change and keep families and partners safe.”
Dedication to holistic healthcare
Mark has been recognised for his mahi breaking down barriers to ensure people most in need of healthcare get the support they need.
His dedication to health stretches nearly 30 years, including his role as CEO of Total Healthcare Charitable Trust since 2008.
“I hope this honour, that I am so humbled to receive, will showcase the value of PHOs and how they can help to tackle the country’s toughest issues related to physical and mental wellness and, equally importantly, the social determinants of health. PHOs can only achieve this through the primary healthcare funding we are allocated from the Flexible Funding Pool,” Mark says.
He played a crucial role for 21 years in helping to facilitate improvements so mental health can be managed effectively within primary healthcare settings. Most recently, he championed and helped fund the work that led to the Integrated Primary Mental Health and Addiction programme resulting in the rollout of health improvement practitioners and health coaches nationally into GP clinics.
Mark’s honour mentions his work with Total Healthcare as an enabler of initiatives that support high needs patients including mama and pēpē and securing funding for family harm prevention for Gandhi Nivas.
It also mentions his earlier careers in the health sector with ProCare Health, introducing a primary mental health programme, and with the Special Education Service and as a senior advisor on special education to the Minister of Education.
