Free and accessible health and wellness check-ups will soon to be available to rural communities across New Zealand.

The Rural Health & Wellness initiative, to be launched later this year, will provide mental and physical health checks to farmers, without them having to travel to access these services. 

The project will involve health professionals visiting sale yards and other rural events, encouraging patrons to participate in a check-up. 

Health checks on offer will cover blood sugar and cholesterol levels, blood pressure, BMI and a general chat about wellness and mental health. 

Participants will be provided with a confidential personal assessment and will receive a report card they can take to their own GP for further follow up if required.

The initiative will be led by rural personality, Craig ‘Wiggy’ Wiggins, a recent recipient of the Ravensdown Agricultural Communicator of the Year Award. 

He says the main drive of the initiative is making the whole process easy. 

“I know plenty of people who are guilty of avoiding doctor’s visits, so we just want to make it easy for them to get a quick check-up and have some peace of mind. The sale yards are often a hub of rural activity’ so it just makes sense to set up our mobile clinics at these locations around the country.”

They have a goal of assessing about 50 people per day. 

It is hoped that the project will be launched in April, but there could be delays under the ‘Red’ traffic light setting.  

Rural Health & Wellness will be run and funded by the Carr Family Foundation, founded by the owners of the agri-business, Carrfields.