Latest news with #Plunket
Otago Daily Times
03-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Team project helps keep kids sun smart
Fairlie's Village Green playground is getting a makeover in order to make it safer for summer. Located on the corner of Main Rd and Talbot St, the playground has had a new safety fence put in place and will have much-needed shade sails installed before the end of the year. While the safety fence was a Mackenzie District Council-led initiative, the shade sail project was made possible by concerned parents with the help of several South Canterbury organisations. Parent Claire Dann said natural shade used to be provided at the playground by surrounding trees. "One got removed for the skate park and another came down in a really bad wind. So, that left us with no real natural shade around the playground. "In 2021 another mum, Hiltje Boysen-Anderson, started the project after being there with her little ones and realising you just couldn't get any shade, especially with babies that want to be on blankets. "She started looking for ways we could get some shade sails and I joined in as well to see if we could get something happening." The pair reached out to the likes of the local Cancer Society and Plunket to see if they would help with funding. "She [Hiltje] reached out to a local Cancer Society member and they were like 'this is right up our alley, we could help with some funding', so that was a great start. "Then we talked to the local Plunket group as they have a play session there once a week with lots of mums with under 5s. "They thought it was a cool thing to support as well, so we had the beginnings of a project." Plans for the shade sail were drawn up pro bono by Felipe Silva Valves, of Timaru architectural design firm Silva Studio, and were presented to the Mackenzie District Council and approved. The Fairlie Community Board then helped with the remaining funds and the support poles for the sails were installed by local builders at the end of May. Ms Dann said it was great to see so many different people and organisations join forces to make the project happen. "That's what small communities are often about, people chipping in. It's definitely been a team project. "We also have Allan from Kotuku Saddlery, he has donated the canvas for them and has put up a lot of shade sails. "He'll get those done up by springtime and that's when it will all start to look like something. "We're kind of aiming for a Labour Weekend to Easter Weekend kind of time frame for the sails to be up for." She said the sails would be hugely important for the area. "It's been really noticeable, last summer wasn't fabulous. "When we've had hot summers it's been hard for local families with young ones to go down to the playground. "It's just really hard to keep them sun smart and protected when they're always ripping their hats of and stuff like that," Ms Dann said. "I think having some shade protection is really going to help the local community and obviously it will be an asset for any visitors passing through as well. "Once those shade sails are up around October we'll have a little do and a little party to celebrate because it has been a couple of years in the making."
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Exhibit spotlights birth of Plunket
"Putting the power in women's own hands." The history of New Zealand's child health service Plunket will be the subject of a colourful display at the Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre from today. Plunket was formed in 1907 following a public meeting called by a Dunedin doctor, Truby King. Dr King (later Sir Truby King) was concerned about the child mortality rate and the lack of help and advice available to new mothers. The date of the first meeting was May 14, 1907, now known as Founder's Day. Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre committee chairman Ian Waters said the exhibition was a tribute to the creation of the Plunket Society at Karitane, the birthplace of the movement, founded by Dr King. "It's about celebrating the work he did in putting the power in women's own hands. "He helped to organise a committee, and then a society, and branches of Plunket throughout Otago, which served the purpose of training Plunket nurses and looking after babies that were undernourished," Mr Waters said. The name "Plunket" comes from the organisation's first patron and staunch supporter, Lady Victoria Plunket, wife of the then governor-general and a mother of eight. The exhibition features 5-1 scale models built by Mr Waters, including Plunket rooms and Dr King's beach hospital at Karitane, where many babies were nursed back to health. The hospital operated from 1907 to 1909 before it was relocated to the Dunedin suburb of Andersons Bay, Mr Waters said. "It was originally in Dr King's holiday beach house and he negotiated a property in Andersons Bay. It was given by a very wealthy businessman called Wolf Harris who was an importer," he said. The property included stables that became the first nursing hostel, where Dr King lived, and there were up to 30 babies within the first year being cared for there. As the hostel grew "through the war years", Plunket expanded and was relocated to Andersons Bay, where it ran until 1978, he said. The exhibition also features work from local artist Dinah Fear, who is also a volunteer at the museum. Fear had painted murals of key Plunket locations, including the Andersons Bay Karitane Hospital and Dr King's mausoleum on Melrose Hill in Wellington, Mr Waters said. "Her work is fantastic and it brings things to life," he said. The exhibition will be opened by Elyse Childs, the great-great-granddaughter of Joanna MacKinnon, the first-ever Plunket nurse. The heritage centre will also show a five-minute film about her life and other items from the movement. "Elyse Childs will talk about Joanna's life and she's got a real treasure trove, the first Plunket medal, so that will be on display." The mortality rate of babies was the main driving factor for Dr King's establishment of Plunket. After a visit to Japan in 1904, where he observed that Asian babies were five times less likely to die in infancy than New Zealand babies, Dr King started producing his own milk and cod liver oil emulsions to help improve the health of babies. The exhibition runs for 12 months.
Scoop
04-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
NZNO Backs People's Pay Equity Select Committee
Press Release – NZNO NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says it was devastating to the 5000 primary health care members that their claim was scuppered without warning or legitimate reason. Representing a third of the pay equity claims scrapped by the Coalition Government, NZNO is throwing its full support behind the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) had 12 pay equity claims being progressed across the health sector including aged care, primary health care, hospices, Plunket, community health and laboratories when the scheme was gutted on 6 May. These claims covered almost 10,000 nurses, health care assistants, allied health workers and administration staff. A further 35,000 NZNO Te Whatu Ora members had their pay equity review halted by the changes, meaning their pay would again fall behind. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says it was devastating to the 5000 primary health care members that their claim was scuppered without warning or legitimate reason. 'It was antidemocratic and an attack on women for the Government not to have consulted the workers whose lives they were changing. Primary and community health care nurses, like their hospice, Plunket and aged care counterparts, accepted lower wage increases in their collective agreements on the understanding they were likely to receive pay equity settlements. 'Now they can have their say through the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. 'The committee of 10 former women MPs from across the political spectrum are strong wahine who helped establishment the previous system to address the gender discrimination which has kept down their wages their whole working lives.' Most New Zealanders – 68 percent – believe the Government should have consulted on the changes, a new poll released today found. Tracey Morgan says NZNO urges all its members to submit their views to the Select Committee so they can be heard when it meets in August.
Scoop
04-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
NZNO Backs People's Pay Equity Select Committee
Press Release – NZNO NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says it was devastating to the 5000 primary health care members that their claim was scuppered without warning or legitimate reason. Representing a third of the pay equity claims scrapped by the Coalition Government, NZNO is throwing its full support behind the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) had 12 pay equity claims being progressed across the health sector including aged care, primary health care, hospices, Plunket, community health and laboratories when the scheme was gutted on 6 May. These claims covered almost 10,000 nurses, health care assistants, allied health workers and administration staff. A further 35,000 NZNO Te Whatu Ora members had their pay equity review halted by the changes, meaning their pay would again fall behind. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says it was devastating to the 5000 primary health care members that their claim was scuppered without warning or legitimate reason. 'It was antidemocratic and an attack on women for the Government not to have consulted the workers whose lives they were changing. Primary and community health care nurses, like their hospice, Plunket and aged care counterparts, accepted lower wage increases in their collective agreements on the understanding they were likely to receive pay equity settlements. 'Now they can have their say through the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. 'The committee of 10 former women MPs from across the political spectrum are strong wahine who helped establishment the previous system to address the gender discrimination which has kept down their wages their whole working lives.' Most New Zealanders – 68 percent – believe the Government should have consulted on the changes, a new poll released today found. Tracey Morgan says NZNO urges all its members to submit their views to the Select Committee so they can be heard when it meets in August.
Scoop
04-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
NZNO Backs People's Pay Equity Select Committee
Representing a third of the pay equity claims scrapped by the Coalition Government, NZNO is throwing its full support behind the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) had 12 pay equity claims being progressed across the health sector including aged care, primary health care, hospices, Plunket, community health and laboratories when the scheme was gutted on 6 May. These claims covered almost 10,000 nurses, health care assistants, allied health workers and administration staff. A further 35,000 NZNO Te Whatu Ora members had their pay equity review halted by the changes, meaning their pay would again fall behind. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says it was devastating to the 5000 primary health care members that their claim was scuppered without warning or legitimate reason. "It was antidemocratic and an attack on women for the Government not to have consulted the workers whose lives they were changing. Primary and community health care nurses, like their hospice, Plunket and aged care counterparts, accepted lower wage increases in their collective agreements on the understanding they were likely to receive pay equity settlements. "Now they can have their say through the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. "The committee of 10 former women MPs from across the political spectrum are strong wahine who helped establishment the previous system to address the gender discrimination which has kept down their wages their whole working lives." Most New Zealanders - 68 percent - believe the Government should have consulted on the changes, a new poll released today found. Tracey Morgan says NZNO urges all its members to submit their views to the Select Committee so they can be heard when it meets in August.
