Healthy Families Invercargill is proud of the many changes our community is making to ensure a healthier future.

Real, sustainable change takes time. The Healthy Families NZ approach was introduced as an alternative to short-term programmes, focussing instead on supporting and enabling the places where we live, learn work and play to be healthier environments.

If our schools, workplaces, sports clubs, churches, marae - and any other places where our community comes together - support us to be smokefree, to be active, to eat healthier and to have a healthy attitude towards alcohol, then people will become healthier over time.

As noted in the Massey University review into the Healthy Families NZ approach, it’s too soon to expect a change in the factors which lead to chronic disease.

The Massey report found that Healthy Families Invercargill has developed strong relationships across the community, a vital component to understanding the challenges and developing a coordinated approach with a diverse range of organisations and individuals to activate leadership across the community.

Put simply, we’ve been building the platform, with the help of many others, for a healthier Invercargill.

Much of our work has been in the background, or in conjunction with other partners. One of our key principles is collaboration for collective impact, our successes are shared with others and that’s a good thing. When the winger slides in for a try, it’s also their team mates and the coaching staff that got them there.

We’ve worked alongside other health-focussed organisations and the Invercargill City Council to advocate for a Smokefree CBD, taken a strengths-based approach with rugby clubs to support them to be more family-friendly, we’ve worked with food outlets to provide customers with a Healthier Choice, schools to remove sugary drinks and healthier canteen options, we supported a small group of disc golf enthusiasts and the council to create the hugely popular disc golf course in Queens Park, more accessible opportunities for early childhood centres to play at ILT Stadium, created a network to ensure more healthier options are available at events, worked with the Chamber of Commerce and individual businesses to develop workplace wellbeing, established a collective which is working together to combat our hazardous drinking, and much more.

And it’s just a start.

Preventing chronic disease demands a comprehensive and coordinated approach that is sustained over the long term. It requires leadership from community level right through to funders and local and central government. We all have a role to play.

Our strategic leadership group includes representatives from the community, council, education, Invercargill Licensing Trust, business and health, and their spheres of influence extend much further than their day jobs.

It’s been exciting to see leadership blooming across the community, including places like Murihiku Marae which is providing great play opportunities for tamariki through the Play Pods initiative which was officially launched this week.

“Murihiku Marae is privileged to be the recipient of these fantastic resources,” Waihopai Runaka general manager Odele Stehlin said.

“The play pods enhance learning opportunities for our pepi and tamariki at the marae, integrating core Maori values of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and matauranga through their use.  A key strength of these being placed at Murihiku is their ability to provide a whanau-centred approach to learning and activity, from their use in a variety of forums and events that involve not only pepi and tamariki but wider whanau positive interaction.”

We’ve also loved being part of the Invercargill Plunket Community Garden initiative.

“Healthy Families were a significant catalyst in ensuring a successful launch of our Invercargill Plunket Community Garden,” Invercargill Plunket community support coordinator Judy Cook said.

“Families actively participate in planting, growing and cooking the produce - parents often say that their children are trying and liking vegetables they have never had before, as well as having a huge amount of fun and learning in the process.”

Article added: Friday 14 December 2018