We supported the revival of the Blind Sport New Zealand Sport Awards and the Blind Foundation sponsored the Leadership Award which I was delighted to present to Donna McCaskill. The and I hosted Chair and CEO International Forum in Auckland in late October focusing on “The Future of Education”. Attendees were - Vision Australia, CNIB, San Francisco Lighthouse and the National Industry for the Blind. I will now share a little more detail on some of the work we have been doing. Person Directed Service Model pilots The first pilot was launched on 3 October in Christchurch and we are on track to start the second pilot in Tauranga early in the New Year. At the heart of this model is the Primary Service Provider (PSP) who is a key contact for clients and is able to provide basic fundamental services when you connect with them to meet your immediate needs across a range of our services. People are later referred to specialist staff as needed but providing a broad skill base has been found to reduce the immediate need for a specialist in some cases. The PSP’s also act as a connector to external services and supports and will be the point of reconnection at an agreed point in the future to ensure ongoing support is available. A new online Registration platform is enabling potential clients, their families or doctors to submit an application for service online. The Contact Centre contacts every applicant within 48hrs to welcome them to the Blind Foundation, follow up on missing information to ensure we receive all the relevant information. In addition a simplified online Referral platform enables Doctors, Ophthalmologists and Optometrists to provide relevant ophthalmic information online. Vision Rehabilitation Design Campaign Workshop Representatives of BLENNZ, Glaucoma NZ, Macular Degeneration NZ and Blind Foundation staff and clients recently co-designed the draft Vision Rehabilitation Campaign Services Strategy. The aim of the campaign is to ensure every New Zealander can access vision rehabilitation services
On October 29th our major awareness campaign began on Newshub. What viewers of the news didn’t realise is that members of the crew who usually deliver the news had been swapped out for new ones – Blind Foundation clients with no or low vision. The News Crew Swap, through a collaboration with MediaWorks, was a demonstration of how the services provided by the Blind Foundation can enable for people who are blind or have low vision. Working together, they provided the crew with the training and support they needed to bring New Zealand the news, as they worked across a range of essential newsroom roles. The Newshub team revealed the Crew Swap, Trevor Plumley, Aine and Dan Holt, to the New Zealand public, live on air, during the 6 pm news broadcast. The news story, fronted by reporter Mitch McCann, revealed the crew members involved in the swap and included the striking graphics created by Dan, one of the Crew Swap members. Following the kick-off on Newshub, the campaign was developed with appearances on The Project, The AM Show and Radio Live, before being amplified across radio, social media and ThreeNow. The campaign continued until 26 November and reached over 1.9m kiwis. Referrer Engagement Campaign This went live at the beginning of October, to tie in with the launch of the new referral form that has been developed as part of the Person-Directed Service Optics Magazine is a key vehicle for the campaign with advertising, advertorials and editorials commencing in October and sustained through each issue into mid-2019. The material in the printed magazine is reinforced through advertising on the Optics website and emails sent to subscribers. Advertising points referrers to a specific website landing page to find out more. The hero message of the campaign is that ‘If your patients are having trouble seeing a way forward, we can help’. It is highlighted that our doors are open to anyone whose sight can not be corrected by lenses, and that we have a range of services to support people to make the best use of the sight they have. The referral process is also now easier than ever.