Giving back to the rural sector
The Carr Family Foundation was keen to help the rural communities that have supported its business journey over the last 40 years.
The enterprise is being run by the Carr Family Foundation, founded by the owners of Carrfields.
The health and wellness programme will be led by rural personality Craig ‘Wiggy’ Wiggins, who was the recent recipient of the Ravensdown Agricutural Communicator of the Year Award.
Wiggins will travel around New Zealand with health professionals visiting sale yards and other rural events encouraging patrons to get a check-up.
The wellness checks on offer will cover blood sugar and cholesterol levels, blood pressure, BMI and a general chat about wellness and mental health.
The health professionals will provide a confidential personal assessment and offer advice on people’s general health based on their results.
“People will receive a report card that they can take to their own GP for further follow up if required,” says Wiggins.
“Our main drive is providing free health checks to our rural communities, and to just make the whole process easy. I know plenty of people who are guilty of avoiding doctor’s visits, so we just want to make it easy for them to get a quick check-up and have some peace of mind. The sale yards are often a hub of rural activity so it just makes sense to set up our mobile clinics at these locations around the country.”
Regular health check ups help identify underlying medical conditions and can also be a guide to options that speed up the recovery process and help maintain and improve overall health and wellbeing.
With a goal of assessing about 50 people per day, Wiggins says he knows he will be busy but he’s aware of his role in the project.
“My job at the sale yard is pretty straight forward, I’ll break the ice and have a chat with passers-by and then offer a quick health check.”
The initial concept was launched over two years ago by Wiggins when he took his horse float and a local GP to the Coalgate sale yards in Canterbury.
However, not long after this, the first wave of Covid-19 hit New Zealand which shut everything down.
The time out has allowed Wiggins and Carr Family Foundation chairperson Stacey McKerchar to collaborate and build on it.
It is hoped the programme will be launched in April but with recent changes to the country’s status on the Covid-19 Protection Framework, a firm date for launch will be confirmed closer to the time.
