2010 Charity Partners

DebRA New Zealand has been running for twenty five years.It is a self help group of people and families with EB.A registered charitable trust DebRA New Zealand relies on voluntary support and grants.DebRA’s primary objective is making life easier and more enjoyable for people and families who have to live with Epidermolysis Bullosa, known as EB, which is the name of a group of genetic disorders causing blistering and shearing of the skin from even the gentlest friction, often from everyday activities. Three main types of EB have been identified, (Dystrophic, Simplex and Junctional) with many different sub-types. EB can vary from a relatively mild condition to an incapacitating, and sometimes fatal, disorder.

In New Zealand there are a handful of children and several adults with severe EB. A larger number of people have milder strains, but still bad enough to make life challenging.

Very few New Zealanders have any contact with EB and it is difficult to realise that their special needs do not fit into any mainstream charities.Everyday, our EB kids are wrapped head to toe with special protective bandages, their wounds are bathed and dressed in sterile dressings.

Kidz First Children’s Hospital, opened in December 2000 on the Middlemore Hospital site. It has an 82-bed inpatient facility and its own emergency department.It specialises in burns, plastics and orthopaedic treatment and also has a Neonatal Unit, which caters for premature and critically ill newborns.

11,000 children are admitted to Kidz First each year and some 20,000 are treated in one of the busiest emergency departments in the Southern Hemisphere.

The hospital has a strong family-centred environment, with beds for caregivers to stay with their child, well-equipped playrooms and family lounges.An onsite school provides education for long-stay patients.These excellent facilities are coupled with a dedicated team of staff that help to ensure children and their families receive optimum care.

Kidz First also has a large community-based team that treats sick children in their homes.This team incorporates health promotion work like the current meningococcal B vaccination programme. It has also adapted to meet the community’s needs by taking the services to the people, through initiatives such as mobile testing for hearing and dental health.

The New Zealand coastline is one of the most spectacular in the world, and is New Zealand’s favourite playground. Tragically, there are still too many people who drown on our coastline. Yet there are thousands of others who have been given a second chance at life, thanks to our Surf Lifeguards. Surf Lifeguards are ordinary people that do extraordinary things.

Whether a child has been knocked over in the shallows, an adult is caught in a deep rip, or a fisherman washed off the rocks, Surf Lifeguards are always ready and willing to offer lifesaving support.

At a moment's notice, they risk their own lives to save someone they've never met. And they do this day in, day out. They are true heroes of the surf. But even heroes need quality equipment and training to get the job done. To train and equip just one volunteer Lifeguard costs more than $2,600.

Surf Life Saving relies on the generosity of individuals and businesses to fund essential services. Coastal property development, increased popularity of the New Zealand coast for recreational purposes, and the ever-increasing costs of rescue equipment and training, are stretching resources to the limit.

Surf Life Saving Northern Region is committed to the prevention of drowning and injury in our aquatic environment. They provide lifeguarding, water safety and education services to all northern beaches and get a lot of satisfaction from playing such a vital role in the community.