WORLD and The Warehouse Launch Charity Starship T

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News Release

WORLD and The Warehouse Launch Charity Starship T

Three iconic New Zealand institutions have joined forces to raise funds to boost national health services for children, and this time it’s the kids who get to show their support - and their style.

Leading New Zealand fashion house WORLD, famous for its exquisite collections shown on runways around the globe, has produced a limited edition range of designer children's T-shirts, sold exclusively through The Warehouse, to support the Starship Foundation.

WORLD directors, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper, have focused their internationally renowned creative skills on five brand new, custom T-shirt designs in sizes infant to 14 years.

“This exciting project has joined three of New Zealand’s most iconic brands to work together for the same great outcome – an affordable designer T-shirt that gets kids supporting kids,” Denise says.

“Knowing that they’re helping others in need just by wearing an everyday clothing item offers kids a great sense of pride and achievement, and by blending WORLD designs with The Warehouse’s national reach, we can provide the greatest benefit to this very worthy cause.”

Denise says the range of Ts will hopefully encourage children to think about helping others facing difficult circumstances.

“We want people to feel good that they’ve been able to support a national cause like Starship, and that’s why we know kids of all ages will wear these T-shirts with pride,” she says.

Five dollars from every $15 T-shirt goes to Starship Foundation to support a national video-conferencing network, the New Zealand TelePaediatric Service (NZTPS), aimed at connecting our communities to the best medical expertise possible.

Starship Foundation Chief Executive Andrew Young says he hopes the combination of a leading designer, a major national retailer and a compelling cause will prove to be a huge success.

“We strive each year to fund a range of local, regional and national services to ensure children receive the best medical care possible – no matter where they live,” he says.

“We are very proud to use proceeds from each T-shirt sold to support the New Zealand TelePaediatric Service (NZTPS), a video-conferencing network which uses technology to cleverly share medical expertise within New Zealand and beyond.”

The Starship Foundation is the premier supporter of NZTPS, having contributed key funds for hospital-based video-conferencing equipment around the country, as well as core costs for the network to exist as a managed, national service.

Andrew says the T-shirt campaign also celebrates 15 years of amazing support from The Warehouse, which has been generously contributing to Starship since the hospital opened in November 1991.

The Warehouse spokesperson, Cynthia Church, says she is delighted that New Zealand’s most famous national retailer can support such a worthy cause with such a trendy clothing item that kids will love wearing.

“Wearing these great Ts is a fantastic way for kids to help other kids and look pretty cool as they do it’,” says Cynthia.

“When you purchase one of the Starship Foundation Ts by WORLD you know that, while you may be buying a T-shirt for one child, you are also helping to save another. With Christmas just around the corner that makes these Ts the ideal present too.”

The WORLD Starship Foundation T-shirts will be available from The Warehouse stores nationwide week commencing Monday 9 October 2006.

About the New Zealand TelePaediatric Service (NZTPS) Network

With the NZTPS network, doctors, nurses, and medical professionals are connected live through television screens all over the country, enabling them to speak face-to-face with one another, share medical knowledge and information and discuss specific patient cases.

The NZTPS connects all 21 District Health Boards together and is primarily based in the paediatric wards and services of those Boards.

NZTPS currently delivers medical education, lectures and clinical meetings between health professionals. Occasionally the video-conferencing sessions will involve a patient directly.

NZTPS uses have included:
- Hospital specialists in larger centres teaching patients in remote towns how to use complex equipment/new techniques to control their conditions
- Terminally-ill children and their families having a direct video-conference connection from their homes to a hospital-based specialist team
- Regular medical teachings and lectures to share expertise amongst doctors, nurses and other medical specialists

It is conservatively estimated that between 450-500 medical personnel participate in video conferencing sessions per week. Initial investigations into clinical usage (clinical professionals discussing or reviewing information regarding a specific patient) estimate that more than 50 kids a week are receiving direct benefits from their health professionals having access to the NZTPS network.

ENDS

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