It’s the countdown until New Zealand’s second biggest
agriculture show opens to the public but work organising the
big event has been underway for months.
That includes
work from Te Whatu Ora staff, whose aim is to have the
benefits of a good show continue long after next month’s
Northland Field Days gates close. Visits in the past to the
Te Ara Hauora well-being site at the annual event have
literally saved lives.
Among health messages,
innovations and insights into regional programmes and
services, visitors will see innovative equipment such as Te
Pahi O Nga Iwi – the ‘People’s Bus’, a diagnostic van that
can provide echocardiograms that examine the heart, as well
as vascular and eye exams. Te Whatu Ora, staff from bowel,
breast and cervical screening, will be on hand to discuss
how screening works.
The staff, messages and health
gadgets at Te Ara Hauora Wellness Hub will be at sites C1,
C2, D1 and D2 in a large pavilion devoted to regional,
public and community service.
Te Whatu Ora (formerly
Northland District Health Board) annually grabs this chance
to reach out too many thousands of people. This year
Northland Field Days organisers expect around 18,000
visitors each day the event is on. The long history of being
part of the Field Days reflects Te Whatu Ora’s mission to
improve the well-being of people in the agricultural,
horticultural and outdoor industries as well as urban
sectors across the region.
Area-wise, Northland is one
of the largest regions in New Zealand. Because of the
distance between service centres, the remote nature of many
settlements, a historic proportionately low income and
employment level combined with related bad health outcomes,
and a perceived lack of funding to overcome
inter-generational problems across the board in Northland,
the region often sits at the bottom of the rung on most
social indices. Te Whatu Ora has had a tough haul trying to
overcome many obstacles to improve accessibility and health
outcomes in its region and has been recognised nationally
for local programmes it has introduced and
piloted.
So, what’s all that got to do with what is
primarily an outsized ag-hort show? Well, nowhere do town,
country, and a myriad of industries, community services,
innovation, and old-fashioned fun come together more
colourfully and accessibly than on the Northland Field Days’
36-hectare site on Dargaville’s outskirts. This year, more
than 300 exhibitors will display stuff for cows, ploughs,
big rigs, farm bikes, work wear, fencing gear, dog trials,
tractor pulls, solar power, clean water, wastewater, crop
trees, amenities, barbecues, eco-loos, cabins, kitchens,
leisure craft, arts and craft, kids’ games, playgrounds,
food halls, tasting stalls … and so much more, including
Te Ara Hauora Wellness Hub, showing what prevention-aimed,
practical solution public health initiatives look
like.
Being held for the 36th time since 1985 but
stymied by COVID in 2021 and 2022, the show is on from
Thursday, March 2, until Saturday, March 4. At its pre-COVID
peak, the event had over 500 exhibitors and up to 27,000
visitors a day. The Northland Field Days is second only in
size to the annual national event at Mystery Creek, near
Hamilton, and attracts exhibitors and visitors from all over
New
Zealand.
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