Now an award for the volunteers

Telehealth team manager Georgina Petersen (left) and volunteer aides Gdynia King and Sarah Cole were in Wellington to accept the Minister of Health Volunteer Award.

One of New Zealand's leading public health volunteer charity organisations, iMoko, has once again been honoured for its services to the community, this time with a Minister of Health Award for the volunteers who deliver those services in their communities.

The Kaitaia-based organisation currently serves more than 6500 children at more than 110 early childhood centres, kohanga reo, primary, intermediate and secondary schools, who receive the medical attention they need for the likes of skin, dental and throat infections, and head lice.

iMoko places technology in the schools, and trains approved people to send photos and notes to clinicians. After making a diagnosis and prescribing appropriate medication, those clinicians offer advice on managing the condition via the app.

Meanwhile a team of volunteers has been working with the iMoko programme for more than a year, visiting schools and early childhood centres three times a week to monitor the children's health.

The specific roles of the volunteers are to swab sore throats, logging the results (and the child's weight) on the iMoko app, and to check for skin infections. Again children's weights (and temperatures) are recorded, with the swabs delivered to the iMoko office in Kaitaia.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan, who with wife Tracy founded iMoko, said the pioneering telemedicine service used simple technology, but relied upon a significant degree of voluntary support. Those volunteers included supporters in Auckland who regularly picked up medicine for tamariki to take home after school, in some cases delivering the prescriptions to the children's homes.

"All the volunteers impart health promotion with the children on every interaction, from covering coughs, blow it bin it (using tissues for runny noses), not sharing drinks and food, washing and sanitising hands, keeping sores covered and having short fingernails," Dr O'Sullivan said.

"We are just so proud and very happy for our volunteers to be recognised. They do such fantastic work for a great cause. Most of our volunteers are regarded as nurses within the school or te kohanga reo due to the professionalism they apply to the programme.

"We are able to directly ring the volunteers to get further information relating to any cases, making our work more streamlined. We feel honoured to have many people volunteering for iMoko and taking on board that ownership.

"It's rewarding to interact with the volunteers and hear their personal stories regarding caring for children at a health level," he added.

"To witness their excitement when they can see how they contribute to the wellness of children is exciting. Many of the volunteers talk about taking on board higher learning that relates to health."