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When I read the Aotearoa New Zealand men’s health statistics, my eyes filled with tears and my heart got those stabbies that signal loss. I was at the hair salon, waiting for 60 years of life to vanish under a prettier colour, and I had to hold it together. The numbers brought many of my own family to mind. Maybe they bring your menfolk to mind too. The statistics come from Movember, the charity behind the moustaches you’ll see sprouting on upper lips around the country this

We love teaching our infant and child first aid course at La Vida in Christchurch. We’ve all had some frightening emergencies in our own families, and remember how helpless that can feel. Helping parents and caregivers feel more able to act is one of the reasons we care so much about this course. This weekend, we talked about children putting things into power points. Someone asked whether that would be electrocution. It’s an understandable question, because people often use

You've got the first aid certificates. But would your workplace be covered if something happened tomorrow? The phone rings and the caller skips hello. “Help. We’re being audited, and we need our first aid training done by Friday.” We take that call more often than you might think. From trades, offices, schools and early learning centres. Different workplaces, same worry: Do we have enough trained first aiders to meet our obligations? The answer isn't always as simple as count

I have to admit, I find self-review season a little daunting. There is a lot to pull together, and making sure it is all documented the right way can feel like a very big task. We submitted ours to NZQA on 5 October 2026, and what helped as I pulled it together was noticing that most of what we were being asked about is simply what we do every day. The evidence was already there. It was a matter of gathering it up so it told our story. What is a self-review? A self-review is

A bone through the skin and help an hour away. What to do for an open fracture, step by step, plus the family legend that started it

My husband Brian and I, along with two dear friends, were travelling from Christchurch to Hokitika. We stopped at our usual halfway point for a coffee and a break. The café was busy. My friend Victoria joined the queue while I went to the bathroom. My husband was outside chatting. Then suddenly, Victoria rushed into the bathroom. “We need you. Someone has collapsed in the café.” I quickly went into the café area. An elderly man was lying on the floor, with his wife beside him