sport promoter steps up for vaccination effort

BLAKE Crosby has pivoted from managing sports programmes for children to caring for the community at vaccine clinics - and he loves it!

A Gisborne Boys' High School old boy, Blake, Ngāti Porou, completed a degree in Sports and Recreation, with a double major in exercise science/physical activity and nutrition. He graduated in 2019 and worked on sport and movement programmes for kids, before heading back to Tairāwhiti to finalise his post-graduate studies in sports management.

By June 2021 Blake, 24, was Tūranga Health’s newest lifestyle coach and health promoter. His early work involved working in kohanga and kura around the rohe, using play and sport to guide tamariki towards active, healthy lifestyles.

But then COVID-19 returned to Aotearoa and like the rest of Tūranga Health, Blake was part of the all-of-service vaccination effort. As a kaiāwhina at dozens of vaccination clinics Blake is a cheerful caring member
of the team. He prefers working at the small clinics helping awhi whānau who may be vaccine hesitant. “We receive a lot of gratitude from people, especially when we create smaller more personal and
discrete local pop-up clinics.”

He says Tūranga Health staff are close, dedicated, and the support within the organisation for new staff like himself, and whānau they care for “has been amazing.”

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