Ngāti Ruanui's council of elders wants the Taranaki District Health Board to front up at marae over cuts the old people say are abhorrent and impractical.
The iwi is supporting a protest march on a DHB meeting in Hāwera on Monday.
The DHB proposes cutting half of Hāwera Hospital's 20 beds and moving six of the remaining beds to a rest home, as part of cuts to save over $1.1 million.
Inpatients will go to New Plymouth, 90 kilometres from Hāwera and 120km from Pātea.
The runanga's chief executive, Debbie Ngārewa-Packer, says Ngāti Ruanui pāhake (seniors) are distressed and anxious at proposals they find dumb and impractical.
She says a hui of pāhake rejected as absurd the idea of consultations via email, text and phone in poor communities with patchy mobile reception.
