Pic Picot of Pic’s Peanut Butter fame and journalist Gordon Harcourt, former host of TVNZ’s FairGo, were introduced to Macular Degeneration New Zealand’s (MDNZ’s) supporters at an event to celebrate the first anniversary of the charity’s Vision for 2020 campaign.
Both the new ambassadors are sadly all too familiar with MD| Picot lives with MD, while Harcourt is the son of actor Dame Kate Harcourt who has MD, giving him a 50% chance of developing it himself.
After being introduced by MDNZ general manager Phillippa Pitcher, Harcourt embraced his ambassadorial role by kindly MC’ing the evening, joking he wore his checked suit as homage to the Amsler Grid.
MDNZ chair Henry Ford thanked supporters and provided an update on their investment to save sight, announcing a recent Galaxy Poll had found awareness of MD among the 50+ age group was 59%, as it had been since 2016, up from 41% in 2012. In the Bay of Plenty, however, where MDNZ ambassador Viv Jones has delivered presentations to more than 2,500 people, awareness has consistently increased and is now 63%. Significantly more people in the region (66%) have also had an eye check in the past two years compared with other regions (58% - 46%). MDNZ founder Dr Dianne Sharp congratulated Viv Jones on her recent Kiwibank Local Hero Award recognising her work in this area.
Ford then introduced MDNZ’s new Auckland-based community educator, Gaye Stratton, who has already delivered presentations to Grey Power, Rotary and Retirement Villages and is planning many more meetings with 50+ community groups and will distribute resources to GPs, nurses and optometrists at conferences.
