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From January 2011, Community and Public Health will no longer be producing an Awareness Calendar.
A calendar of upcoming Awareness Days is available from the Funding Institute of NZ.
Upcoming Appeals and Awareness Dates are highlighted below.
Bike Wise Month: new and fresh for 2012
 Get prepared for the 10th Anniversary of Bike Wise in February 2012. This milestone will be celebrated by launching a new approach and a few exciting changes. The focus will be on Safer Journeys for cyclists, so you’ll notice a few changes to the usual Bike Wise events. As Bike Wise has such a high profile it is a great opportunity to provide safety messages around cycling that are so important.
Go By Bike Day – Wednesday 1 February 2012
Go By Bike Day is a one-day event in February every year where thousands of people throughout New Zealand switch from cars, buses or trains and bike to work for a day. Go By Bike Day events invite cyclists to ride to a central location (or breakfast stations) on their way to work or school, and enjoy a free breakfast with other cycle commuters.
Bike Wise Challenge for the month of February 2012
The Bike Wise Challenge is a month-long fun, free inter-organisation challenge that aims to get more people biking more often. Organisations compete to get the most staff on a bike. Participants log their cycling hours which can be from commuting or leisure riding. Since 2007 nearly 50,000 New Zealanders from thousands of organisations have participated in the Bike Wise Challenge. In 2012 it will take place throughout February.
Some of the key outcomes from Bike Wise Challenge in 2011 were:
- 27% of participants started cycling more after the Bike Wise Challenge
- 15% started to cycle or increased their cycling frequency to work.
Big Bike Fix Up – throughout Spring and Summer
Many people have an unused bike sitting in a garage or under the house that with a quick maintenance check would make it safe and road worthy. The ‘Big Bike Fix Up’ is an opportunity to target getting potential riders back on the road by getting unused bikes roadworthy again.
Through local events, Bike Wise will target getting 5000 bikes fixed-up this Spring and Summer. You can help by running a Big Bike Fix Up event in your town, or by offering basic maintenance checks and simple fixes at your other events. More serious work will need to be referred to a local bike store.
Find more information about safe cycling on the Bike Wise website.
Know Your Numbers this Heart Health Week: 13-19 February 2012
 Cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is still the leading cause of death in New Zealand, accounting for 40% of deaths annually. Every 90 minutes a New Zealander dies from coronary heart disease (16 deaths a day). Many of these deaths are premature and preventable.
There are risks with most things we do in life. This is the same for your heart health. A "risk factor" is something that increases your chance of getting a disease. The more risk factors you have for heart disease, the greater your chance of developing the disease. Most of the risk factors for heart disease can easily be reduced and these include:
- Smoking
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Poor Diet
- Physical inactivity
- Weight
- Stress
There are some simple steps that you can take to find out about your risk of heart disease:
Sunday 4 March 2012 is Children’s Day!
 Children's Day – Te Rā O Te Tamariki – provides New Zealanders with an opportunity to give time to children. It is a fun day for activities that start new traditions as well as continue old ones.
Children's Day is about:
- Giving time
- Praise and encouragement
- Listening and talking
- Love and affection
- New experiences.
Hundreds of events happen all over the country each March. It is time to start thinking about planning an event in your area. You can register your event on the Children's Day website, and they have lots of free resources such as flyers, posters etc. which you can access to promote your event. You can also sign up to an E-Newsletter for updates and news about Children's Day.
Find more information about Children's Day.
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