Rachel Donaldson

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Pretoria Gordon |Rachel Donaldson

More than 200,000 New Zealanders are in Queensland amid Cyclone Alfred, so RNZ have asked some what they've seen. A New Zealander living in Brisbane says the past week has been long, stressful and anxiety inducing as she hunkered down at home and waited for the cyclone. Sophia Ducker-Jones, who lives in New Farm, said she and her flatmates bought up the last remaining tins of beans and tuna at their local supermarket last Sunday, filled the bath with water and topped up their power banks.

Nov 30, 2024 | rnz.co.nz | Rachel Donaldson

The midwives' union says it is "completely unacceptable and appalling" that dozens of midwife graduates were prevented from sitting their final exams before Christmas because of a shortage of exam places, while test spots were set aside for electricians and pilots. An AUT midwifery graduate, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said half of AUT's graduates for 2024 finished their studies last week, only to find they could not book to sit a registration exam in Auckland until 24 January.

Nov 22, 2024 | rnz.co.nz | Rachel Donaldson

The closure of New Zealand's largest parent support centre and education provider is being described as a real loss, incredibly saddening and a historic moment, after seven decades of advocating for women, new parents and young families. The Parents Centre Aotearoa charitable trust, which offers childbirth and parenting classes in more than 60 locations, announced on Friday that it would close at the end of the year. It has been in operation since the 1950s.

Nov 15, 2024 | rnz.co.nz | Rachel Donaldson

A new national diabetes register will show for the first time how many people are living with each type of diabetes in Aotearoa, which is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, a diabetes specialist says. Health NZ says the real-time register is yet to be developed, but it will be an early priority for its new Diabetes National Clinical Network, Mahitahi Matehuka, which it established earlier this year.

Nov 15, 2024 | rnz.co.nz | Rachel Donaldson

An Auckland auction house expects five rare huia feathers to fetch a good price when they go under the hammer on Sunday. Interest in the extinct native bird's feathers has soared since May, when a single feather - valued at between $1000-$2000 - sold at Webb's for a world record-breaking $46,521, making the feather the most expensive in the world. The Guardian dubbed the feather "more expensive than gold".