Melanoma New Zealand will make a huge positive impact on the lives of those with skin cancer, with the help of backing from Ryman Healthcare.
The Ryman Healthcare family will in the coming year look to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help make a difference in the lives of thousands of Kiwis and Victorians with skin cancer.
Each year residents and staff at Ryman Healthcare villages raise money at hundreds of fundraising events, donating both their time and money to causes.
In July, Ryman Healthcare Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod handed over a cheque for more than $400,000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. In Melbourne, where Ryman has two villages, an additional A$28,000 was raised to be donated National Breast Cancer Foundation in Victoria.
In August, Ryman starts working with its next charity partners. The emphasis is on helping Melanoma New Zealand and the Melanoma Institute Australia.
Melanoma New Zealand Chief Executive Andrea Newland said the organisation was thrilled to have been chosen as a charity partner. “Ryman Healthcare’s extraordinarily generous support of so many charities over many years is truly life changing,” she told a group of Diana Isaac Retirement Village residents.
Ms Newland said Melanoma NZ’s mission was to prevent avoidable suffering and deaths from melanoma “It sounds a lofty goal, but it’s entirely achievable – as for the most part, melanoma is both preventable as well as curable if caught early.”
Meanwhile, the statistics were scary, particularly as living in New Zealand meant the chances of getting melanoma were higher than anywhere else in the world,” she said.
“More than 4,000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with melanoma every year. More than 360 people die from melanoma every year in New Zealand – that’s higher than our road toll.” More than half of all registered incidences of melanoma occurred in people aged 65 and over. Twice as many men than women died from melanoma, Ms Newland added.
Ryman Healthcare’s support would enable the charity to do some new and exciting work across New Zealand to help raise awareness about melanoma prevention and early detection, and to ultimately save lives, she said.
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Mr MacLeod said helping good causes it was a two decade long tradition for Ryman. The 2019/20 year had been great for fundraising, taking the amount raised over the past 21 years to more than $4.1 million. For each dollar residents pay, the company reaches into its pocket and matches that by the same amount. Following the 65 year and older category, the next highest risk demographic was males aged 15-39 working in outdoor labour such as construction. “So we know that this will resonate with our own team since we have more than 1,700 construction workers working on our sites at the moment.”
Ryman Healthcare is New Zealand’s largest retirement village operator. Each year Ryman Healthcare chooses a different charity partner to work with.
