As Arthritis NZ reaches its 60th anniversary in September, it is a very different organisation to the one established in 1966, but the goal has always been and still is to provide support services to help those affected by arthritis.
That was the vision of its founders, National Bank CEO Sir John Mowbray and Wellington physician Dr Tim Williams, and it still holds strong.
The organisation has seen many changes, evolving to meet the changing needs of both our community and people with arthritis, to become the community strength-based service delivery programme with strong digital engagement that we have today.
As Arthritis NZ’s most long-standing staff member, Francesca Holloway has seen many of those changes happen.
“I haven’t been here 60 years,” laughs Francesca, who is now the organisation’s advocacy manager but has led several different roles over her time with Arthritis NZ. “When I started our structure was very different. We had 18 different divisions, and I was managing the Auckland division.
” Major milestones before 2001 included the organisation being the subject of the 1978 Telethon appeal, which raised $3 million as well as raising awareness about arthritis, its impact and how it affects people of any age. That enabled the establishment of the former field officers' service.
The original name, the Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation, was changed to the Arthritis Foundation of New Zealand in 1985.
Nationwide street collection and awareness campaigns were run during the 1980s, including the 1988 Move It or Lose It campaign. The National Arthritis Research Fund was established in 1991.
Between 2001 and 2002 a process was undertaken to change to a service delivery model – as well as the first report on the economic costs of arthritis to New Zealand and a change of name to Arthritis New Zealand.
That’s the point where Francesca picks up the story.
“When I started, the organisation was very focused on face-to-face education, and support groups that met in person were a significant component,” she says.
“They were people with arthritis and many had been meeting regularly for a long time. They tended to be older people and meetings were pretty formal.
“Younger people coming in did not necessarily want the same thing. There was disappointment that it was not what they were looking for, and disappointment from existing groups that new people weren’t joining.
“So, there was a real point of evolution when we moved from support groups with a very structured system to a more relaxed approach.
“At the same time, we rebranded and the gerbera symbol and orange and purple came in. It was a natural evolution but a lot of change for people and took quite a bit of working through.”
In 2010 the organisation changed to a service delivery model and in 2018 transitioned to a charitable trust.
“We gradually developed into the digital world but it was the Covid pandemic that saw that become central to what we do,” says Francesca.
“So, that was the impetus to develop a whole digital outreach and move into providing different ways of delivering services.
” That included the launch of the Arthritis Assist programme with an 0800 number providing trained health coaches, a registered nutritionist and a pharmacist who provide a support service for anyone living with arthritis as well as those who care for them.
“Arthritis Assist is our flagship service,” says Francesca. “Anyone can call and get expert advice about arthritis support and education.
“We also developed our system of webinars and podcasts which are very well-used. Anyone can join in from around the country – we even get people from overseas.
“We introduced private Facebook groups so people with different arthritis diagnoses can link up and support one another.
At the same time, the organisation was continuing to develop its advocacy services and community engagement.
“We have always lobbied but we are now focusing in a more concentrated way on making sure the voices of people with arthritis are heard by decision-makers,” says Francesca.
“We build relationships with each political party and are working to ensure arthritis is recognised as a form of disability.
“We have developed our work with young people and how we deliver to different communities. Moving the dial on gout is a big focus - Māori and Pasifika people have a disproportionately high incidence of gout.”
In 2025 came a further evolution with the rebrand to Arthritis NZ Mateponapona Aotearoa, with a new logo that incorporates a tohu which was gifted. We completely redesigned the website, to better reflect the organisation’s mission, improve accessibility to information, and support people living with arthritis, their whānau, and health professionals.
“As an organisation we have always spoken up on issues that affect people with arthritis and made sure decision-makers hear that,” says Francesca.
“Providing an excellent service for people affected by arthritis is our focus and everybody along this journey, from the staff, to donors and support group members, to people on the Facebook pages today, has shared a passion to provide solutions for people living with arthritis and make a positive difference to their lives.
“That passion is as strong as ever but today, instead of providing an excellent service to a small amount of people, we have widened our scope to provide far greater access to the information many more people need to lead their lives as independently as possible.”
