Sealord helps whānau get to healthcare appointments
Te Piki Oranga understands that sometimes it’s tricky to get to appointments with healthcare providers. You might have a car but don’t always have the money to pay for petrol. Or perhaps you don’t have access to a car and need help paying bus or taxi fares. If your mobility is impaired, we know it’s even harder for you to get to appointments.
Sponsorship from Nelson-based seafood company Sealord now enables Te Piki Oranga to provide whānau, who need help travelling to and from appointments, with funds to help pay for travel.
Until now, Te Piki Oranga has not had funding to cover transport costs, and from time-to-time kaimahi have had to drive whānau to important appointments, but this takes them away from their main mahi.
"We're so grateful for the funding from Sealord," says tamariki ora nurse Amber Ford. "Not having transport has historically been such a barrier for our whānau to get to really crucial health appointments, so it's so good to have that extra koha to help. As a nurse, it really takes a lot of time to transport whānau, so having access to taxis and other sources of transport is going to make such a difference."
Sealord will contribute an amount each year for the next three years to cover transport costs for whānau in the Nelson Tasman and Marlborough regions.
Sealord CEO Doug Paulin says that the sponsorship is a natural fit for Sealord.
"Sealord is half-owned by Māori and 15 per cent of our employees are Māori," he says. "It is important to us to support our people’s whānau and their communities. Covering transport costs of whānau enrolled with Te Piki Oranga is a tangible way for us to support the health of many across Te Tauihu."
Doug says this partnership is one of Sealord’s major sponsorships for the next three years and that the company is open to considering other opportunities to provide support where they can.
For example, Sealord also donated 300 frozen hoki fillets for the vaccination BBQ we co-hosted at the Super Saturday Vaxathon at Nelson Intermediate School on 16 October.
