Pat Smith (L) and Sarah Waitohi are taken out in the new chairs by Diana Le Mon and Fiona Morgan. Photo / Christine Cornege
This Christmas the Herald is again featuring charities which have been selected for a $10,000 donation from Auckland Airport. Eleven charities have been chosen and the 12th donation will go to the families of the Pike River 29. The $120,000 came from change given by travellers at the airport this year.
Elderly residents at a North Waikato rest home are looking forward to enjoying the outdoors thanks to five new specialised chairs.
The North Waikato Care of the Aged Trust will use $10,000 from the Auckland Airport's 12 Days of Christmas giveaway to buy chairs - known as fall-out chairs -
for the Huntly rest home's residents.
Different from wheelchairs, they are adjustable, have seatbelts, bigger wheels, prevent pressure sores and have extra padding to provide better comfort.
At $2000 per chair, they don't come cheap.
Therefore getting the grant was a "beautiful gift" that will help a larger number of elderly residents, facility manager Diana Le Mon says.
"It just means that they don't have to just be plonked in a chair, inside, all day. We can take them outside for walks, they can sit outside and enjoy the day."
The trust looks after a rest home and a hospital on site, which also has a dementia unit and a palliative care facility.
Mrs Le Mon said they already had a fall-out chair for one of the residents and had seen its benefits.
She said many of their elderly people had multiple sclerosis and other diseases which prevented them from walking or moving around.
Staff had been "only dreaming" of getting just one other before they won one of 12 grants gifted to charities by Auckland Airport this year.
"Getting another $2000 is hard. We had been talking about how to fundraise for one just a few days before someone saw the ad in the Herald. We went online and applied ... it was a little gift from God."
Mrs Le Mon thanked Auckland Airport for the grant as well as showcasing what she called the essence of Christmas.
"This has just been an absolute dream," she said.
"Our heartfelt thanks to everyone at Auckland Airport. They will never know just how much pleasure they have given us."
