Founding Trustee and Ambassador, Viv Jones, receives Local Hero Award

Congratulations to founding Trustee and MDNZ Ambassador, Viv Jones, for being awarded a Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Local Hero Award for the Bay of Plenty region.

Viv Jones is an amazing woman. She has overcome her own difficulties and has been committed to changing the lives of others for nearly ten years now. Viv has been speaking to groups throughout the Bay of Plenty, highlighting the importance of regular eye examinations to check their eye health and recommending people share this information with their families and friends.

Viv tells her story of being diagnosed and losing vision, plus the shock and the impact of living with vision loss due to macular degeneration, which she does every day with her extremely positive attitude.

People really relate to Viv’s story and adhere to her advice about early detection. Thanks to Viv, the Bay of Plenty is streets ahead in awareness raised and people taking action to save their sight. 66% of Bay of Plenty residents get their eyes checked compared to 56% nationally, according to a Galaxy Poll conducted in October 2018.

Viv has worked tirelessly to help save people’s vision. She has spoken to over 2,500 people in the past 3 years and as a result, awareness of macular degeneration in the Bay of Plenty is higher than the rest of the country.

Congratulations Viv for this well-deserved award.

Viv continues to work tirelessly to. She is an excellent role model of someone in our society who steps out of her comfort zone to educate others and to lead change in our society.