To celebrate five years of the Rheumatic Fever Prevention Programme a school talent quest is being held to thank the hard working team.
The team has worked the past five years in Kawerau, Te Teko and Te Mahoe and to celebrate this milestone, the "Stop Sore Throats Hurting Hearts" school talent quest is being held on Saturday November 19 from 10:00am to 2:00pm at Kawerau Town Hall.
Rheumatic Fever is a preventable disease that is triggered by Group A Streptococcus (GAS) sore throat. A GAS sore throat can be identified by a simple throat swab.
In 2010 the Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance Kawerau Rheumatic Fever Prevention Programme team and several doctors, nurses, and pharmacies joined forces with whanau of local schools to identify and treat the GAS sore throat.
Almost every student in the Kawarau, Te Teko and Te Mahoe communities has been enrolled in the programme since 2010. The team have taken over 23,856 throat swabs, and 2,392 GAS throats have been treated.