‘It’s what we’re doing right now’
We’ve launched a new campaign to show how we support everyone in Aotearoa across prevention, care and recovery.
Our latest public engagement is a series of six video stories featuring messages for all of Aotearoa.
They have been designed and built by New Zealanders through robust testing, demonstrating our service offering across prevention, care and recovery.
The campaign draws heavily on research and insights that showed half of New Zealanders, and almost 60 percent of Māori, had low awareness of ACC’s role and services.
We want to change that.
Prevention, care, recovery
The content reflects our role in the lives of the people of Aotearoa, highlighting the diverse range of our services in support of an increasingly diverse Aotearoa.
It's designed to provide the overarching context for all our engagement with clients, providers and business customers, as well as injury prevention programmes.
These stories provide glimpses into the lives of New Zealanders over a 24-hour period. They show the range of support we offer, including our role in:
- the Live Stronger for Longer strength and balance programme
- returning to independence after an injury
- the Ride Forever motorcycle skills programme
- access to rongoā Māori healing
- rehabilitation and returning to sport after an injury
- providing life-long support for clients.
Head over to our website to find out what we're doing right now.
ACC - Helping you do the things you love
Prevention – “Doing Ride Forever saved my life”
It’s 10.15am on a Saturday and motorcycle enthusiast Mandy Peterson is in her happy place. Proudly sitting on her Harley Davidson, she is cruising along a rural road in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay.
With the scenery bathed in autumn sunshine and a powerful 1200cc engine rumbling away beneath her, there’s nowhere else Mandy would rather be.
But her serenity is about to be shattered. In a few seconds, she will nearly lose her life. She will end up with nothing worse than a badly broken leg but knows how close she came to being another road death statistic.
Luckily, the 55-year-old had completed several Ride Forever courses – an ACC injury prevention programme aimed at improving rider skill through training and resources.
Had it not been for her Ride Forever training, Mandy shudders to think what may have happened.
“I would have died, there’s no doubt about that,” she admits.
Ride Forever is one of many Injury Prevention Programmes that ACC runs every year. We work with trusted partners and communities to keep you safe and prevent injuries throughout Aotearoa.
It’s what we’re doing right now.
Read Mandy's full story on our Newsroom
Care – “It’s not an alternative. It’s our way. It’s always been our way”
It’s 2.45pm at the Tau Henare Marae near Whangarei and Marae Hart is restoring her wairua (spirit) and replenishing her mauri (vitality).
She is on her front, eyes closed and having a mirirmiri (massage) on her back in a rongoā Māori treatment. The Kuia kaumatua of Tau Henare Marae can feel her aches and pains ease in the treatment.
Maraea hurt her back delivering the newspapers to the local community. She turned to her culture for her preferred form of healing and care.
“Rongoā Maori has helped me immensely,” says the 74-year old. “The pakeha health system wasn’t working for me, I would rather go for a mirimiri, a massage, because I get more relief from it.”
Maraea is delighted that rongoā Māori is an option in her recovery. Used by Māori in Aotearoa for centuries, rongoā remains a popular healing option.
Since June 2020, rongoā Māori has been offered as a service by ACC. If we agree to provide cover for a person’s injury, the person can ask ACC to pay for rongoā Māori as part of their rehabilitation.
“It’s not an alternative. It’s our way. It’s always been our way. Right from when I was a little kid,” she says.
As at the end of August 2022, we had approved rongoā Māori for around 3,000 claims and funded more than 19,000 sessions. We also now have 108 registered ACC rongoā Māori practitioners from Kaitaia to Stewart Island. Marae is pleased to see the next generation of Māori learning rongoā.
“It has been restricted for so long,” she says. “Now to watch the young ones come in and learn and watch it is huge. Their children and their children’s children will carry it on because we are not restricted anymore from using our Rongoa.”
Koia tā mātou e mahi ana i tēnei wā (It’s what we’re doing right now).
Recovery - “It’s really good to know there is support when you go through hard times”.
It’s 6.05pm on Wednesday and Alphonso ‘Fonz’ Goulding has been waiting for this moment – the start of the touch season.
The 37-year-old Fijian-born Kiwi spots a gap – and with a dummy and burst of speed he is through – and scores his first try of the season. Fonz plays four times a week during the summer in Wellington. He says it’s the best time of the year.
“Every winter I can’t wait for this time of the year,” he says. “We play Turbo Touch throughout the winter but it’s not the same as summer touch and being able to play every day.
“I have made a lot of friends through touch rugby and it’s nice to see them again.”
Fonz is looking forward to this season after he pulled both of his calf muscles playing Turbo Touch.
“It was pretty painful,” he says. “There was a loud bang when I did it. All of a sudden, I realised that I couldn’t put any weight on my legs.”
It took Fonz around four to six weeks to recover from his injuries. “I did some rehab and now I’m back at it again.” Fonz was off work for a couple of days and then he was back into it.
“I was lucky that it didn’t have a big impact on my family or work. I just got on with it.”
We have played a key role in helping Fonz recover from many injuries over the years. Fonz jokes that he’d love to see his ACC claim file with the number of injuries he has had.
“I have had a few injuries – collar bone, calf muscles, hamstrings – and they have been there for all of them and helped me get back on the field,” he says.
Fonz says ACC have been “awesome” to deal with. “They have taken care of all of my expenses and the support has been great. It’s really good to know you can play a sport that I love like touch and there is support when you go through your hard times.
“Having that support is huge so I can keep doing what I love,” says Fonz.
In the past five years we have accepted around 50,000 touch-related injury claims.
It’s what we’re doing right now
Learn more about what we’re doing right now in prevention, care and recovery to support New Zealanders all over Aotearoa.
