Media Release

8 January 2010

Decade of injury prevention recognised

Two women described as the “backbone of injury prevention” in Waitakere over the past decade have been recognised by Waitakere City Council for their commitment to the cause.

Coral Timmins and Tuini Hakaraia-Tino were recently acknowledged by Waitakere City Council for their contributions to injury prevention and community safety when they were awarded with certificates by Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse.

The pair provides valuable support to the Safe Waitakere Injury Prevention Board and deliver projects to the community in conjunction with the council, partner agencies and community representatives.

These projects are aimed at reducing the risk of injury through education and awareness.

Projects delivered in recent years have included a focus on:
• The tragedy of children being run over in their driveways
• Water safety
• Burns and fire prevention
• Injuries within vulnerable and high risk areas of our community.

They work across the community to promote injury prevention with Tuini working specifically with Maori and has an office at Hoani Waititi Marae.

“Tuini and Coral are two truly remarkable women who are driven by a deep rooted desire to work on behalf of their community to achieve the best possible injury prevention outcomes,” says Cr Hulse.

In November the pair also took a leading role in a function commemorating the 10th anniversary of Waitakere being the first city in New Zealand accredited as an International Safe Community.

“Tuini and Coral have championed injury prevention issues as an important component of Waitakere’s over all vision of enabling community safety,” says manager of Safe Waitakere, Mark Maxlow.

“This accolade recognises the value that passion has to the people of Waitakere.”

Safe Waitakere is a unit of Waitakere City Council dedicated to working with community groups and government agencies to address community health and crime issues through prevention strategies. Its six portfolios are Crime Prevention, Graffiti Vandalism Prevention, Family Violence Prevention, Injury Prevention, Community Action of Youth and Drugs and the Safe Waitakere Alcohol Project.

ENDS

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