What we do As you’ll probably know by now, New Zealand finds itself in a very similar situation to what we were in almost one year ago – a lockdown. Currently, the Auckland region is in a level 3 lockdown, and the rest of New Zealand is at level 2 restrictions. Unfortunately, the Foundation has had to make some hard decisions over the weekend and with that comes the cancelation of the first week of our Brain Awareness Month events.
March 2 - 4 events
First and foremost, the safety of our supporters, scientists and clinicians, and staff is paramount. We feel that any kind of gathering that allows large numbers of our supporters to congregate could put those who are “high risk” in danger. We don’t want to put anyone at risk, and therefore the following events have been cancelled,
- Auckland, 2 March @ 6.30 pm, Auckland War Museum
- Ashburton, 3 March @ 6.30 pm, The Ashburton Hotel
- New Plymouth, 3 March @ 6.30 pm, The Devon Hotel
- Christchurch, 4 March @ 6.30 pm, Christchurch Art Gallery
- Palmerston North, 4 March @ 6.30 pm, The Distinction Hotel Palmerston North
Although we are cancelling this week's events, our next priority will be looking at rebooking the events for later in the year, but we are currently unsure when they will take place.
Like everyone else in our situation, we are awaiting decisions from the government on how best to move forward with our future events throughout March and what further guidelines or protocols may be required. We will be in touch as soon as we know more.
March 10 -11 events
For our events taking place in Napier and Gisborne, scheduled to go ahead on the 10 and 11 March. Unfortunately, due to the restrictions and guidelines currently in place with the University of Auckland - the place of employment of both speakers scheduled to attend - we are postponing both these events until later in the year.
We are unsure when the events will take place at this time, but we will be looking at timeframes after April 2021.
March 13 - 30 events
As for all other events happening throughout March, at this stage the events are still scheduled to go ahead pending decisions made by the government over the coming weeks. As always, we will be following the Ministry of Health recommendations and guidelines, and taking all precautions necessary to ensure the safety of our attendees. The tickets for these events have been limited to 100, and we will be contacting all venues to ensure they have the ability to allow social distancing and put in place any other precautions we may deem necessary.
We are urging all of our supporters and attendees to cancel their tickets if they are feeling unwell, or have any of the symptoms laid out by the Ministry of Health on their website.
To cancel your ticket please either email RSVP@neurological.org.nz or call our office at 0508 BRAINS (0508 272 467).
It is important to note that if Auckland is at level one or two we will have staff travelling to manage the events throughout New Zealand. Auckland staff will take extra precautions through the use of masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing as appropriate.
We wanted to personally thank everyone who has supported the Foundation this year and has shown a keen interest in our upcoming events celebrating Brain Awareness Month and 50 years of funding neurological research. Your encouragement, passion and love for the research is remarkable, and we hope to be able to celebrate with you soon.
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