Arthritis New Zealand educator and team leader Paula Takiwa attended this year’s Waitangi Day celebrations on 6 February 2020.
“We had queries from people asking for information about gout arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis as well as rheumatoid arthritis,” she says.
“We had around 100 people come to our stand to talk about arthritis and take some brochures.”
“The day started early with the dawn service at 5 am. Being amongst the people was the highlight and according to NZ Herald there were 40,000 people that attended the celebrations. Our stand was amongst other hauora (health) providers such as The Stroke Foundation, Cancer Society, Hokianga Health, Ngai Hine Trust, NDHB and others.”
“We collaborated with Stuart Selkirk, kaiawhina at Mahitahi Hauora (Public Health Enterprise) and also Navjit and Jonathan from KiaOra Hauora (5th year medical students) who were helping us to promote information on gout arthritis and osteoarthritis.
“We were able to refer whanau to Mahitahi Hauora and gave out 50 Arthritis Pain books, 30 Out with Gout English books and 30 Stop Gout books.”
We need you to help us keep our presence at events like Waitangi Day!
We are a charity that relies on community funding. Without your generous donations, we wouldn’t be able to attend important events like Waitangi Day. Help us keep our presence!
