NZNO delegates gathered signatures at Invercargill’s Southern Crafters Market for a petition launched last September — The Buller Declaration, calling for the Government to deal with the health system crisis.
Southland delegate Maike Rickertsen said the market, held at Stadium Southland, was a huge event running over the weekend with more than 200 stalls.
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Rickertsen pitched the stall idea at a delegates meeting last week then set about getting a foot in the highly-coveted market door. With no crafts to sell and only a jar of giveaway lollies and a publicity skeleton in tow, the nurses got a spot anyway — free — thanks to organisers’ generosity.
“They all had their own journeys probably in the health system,” she said.
Eight delegates, including a student, pitched in to help – three heading off to work shifts after their time at the stall.
The group added another about-1000 signatures to the petition over a weekend of non-stop engagement with visitors — only a single person having a bad word to say about nurses.
Beforehand, the nurses worried the public didn’t support their cause — but that fear quickly evaporated.
“It was the polar opposite, and everyone really hates the Government,” Rickertsen said. Health Minister Simeon Brown was also hugely unpopular amongst this craft-loving community.
The stall came after about 36,000 Te Whatu Ora members voted to strike later this month: giving the nurses a chance to test community reactions.
At the market, an online survey run by the members drew 97% support from 36 responses for the strike. When it came to the state of the health system, “everyone’s had a gutsful”, Rickertsen said.
“And honestly the stories that we got out of people were just heartbreaking. I mean, we know how it is, but oh my God.”
Supporter Klaus Rickertsen backs up model Arthur Healthcare, seated, with Bronwyn Dawson and Maike Rickertsen having a kōrero with community members lining up to sign the Buller Declaration.Rickertsen said the weekend was full-on for the delegates, but ultimately the support was “far better than we thought it would be”.
Meanwhile sitting amongst the quince chutney preserves and woodcrafts of the Deep South’s biggest craft market was Arthur Healthcare — a bandaged skeleton chilling on a camping chair.
Rickertsen said he was a symbol of the health system, and something of an eye catcher and conversation-starter for curious passers-by.