The Painga Project

Painga Project works alongside high equity index primary schools to remove the hearing and vision barriers that stop tamariki from learning, participating and reaching their potential.

Many children don't know they can't see or hear clearly. A child simply assumes that the way they experience the world is the way everyone does.

We screen thousands of tamariki, identifying vision problems, hearing loss and ear health issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. But for us, identifying a problem is only the beginning.

Through Celia, our mobile vision clinic, children identified through screening receive a full eye examination with an optometrist — at school. Those who need glasses choose their own frames, and we return to fit and deliver them.

Our hearing pathway provides screening, rescreening, access to diagnostic audiology and referral for specialist care. Through our thorough screening we can determine exactly what's happening with a child's hearing and ensure they receive the support they need next.

When a child needs further medical or specialist care, we work with their school and whānau to make it happen. That can mean arranging appointments, navigating referral pathways, picking children up from school, collecting whānau from home, and driving them to GP, audiology, ophthalmology and other specialist appointments.

Because many of the whānau we work alongside face real barriers. Cost, transport, time away from work and long waiting lists can all stand between identifying a problem and a child actually receiving care.

We believe those barriers should never determine whether a child can see, hear, or fully take part in their education.

Your donation helps us keep our screening teams in schools, our mobile clinics on the road, our diagnostic pathways running, glasses on the faces of tamariki who need them, and our team alongside tamariki every step from identification through to treatment.

This is Equity at the school gate.

Every donation helps us bring it to another child.