EWCT submission for the Charities Act

A Government review of the Charities Act 2005 began in 2019. EWCT made an initial submission in 2019. The second submission by EWCT, in December 2022 as shown here, was in response to a first reading of the proposed new Act and associated key recommendations. EWCT and many other groups are highly critical of the proposed new Act and many of the key recommendations, and

Read More »

EWCT submission for the Accessibility Bill

The Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill is aimed at addressing the accessibility barriers faced by disabled people, tāngata whaikaha, and others, so they can live independently and participate fully in all areas of life. EWCT put forward a written and oral submission asking that the Bill redresses the many inequalities facing people living with epilepsy so that there is an improved quality of life for

Read More »

Petition: Fully fund the vagal nerve stimulator for adults with intractable epilepsy

Please support the Epilepsy Waikato Charitable Trust’s (EWCT) latest petition to parliament. We need your vote/signature urgently please (before 18 June 2023). Sign the Petition   Please share the petition to colleagues and friends who may also like to support it with their votes. Petition request: That the House of Representatives urge Whatu Ora Health New Zealand to fund vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for

Read More »

Your epilepsy care team – Professionals who look after us in the community

A number of professionals in the community can help support you with epilepsy. We have compiled a list and slideshow of epilepsy care professionals in the community and their roles in assisting with epilepsy.   We’ve also created a template for keeping a list of these contacts. Please feel free to print and fill in this template if you think it will be useful to

Read More »

Support EWCT by purchasing an Entertainment Book

Support Epilepsy Waikato Charitable Trust again this year by purchasing an Entertainment Book. What is the Entertain Book? The Entertainment Book, and the Entertainment Digital Membership, are your guide to the most popular restaurants, attractions, shopping, travel and more in the Waikato region (also available in other NZ regions). Benefits include: Discover over $20,000 worth of valuable up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers Exclusive Member

Read More »

Petition: Fund ketogenic dieticians at Waikato DHB

Epilepsy affects at least 48,000 New Zealanders. Unfortunately, 35% of these people cannot achieve seizure control with conventional medications. Despite the addition of over 15 new anti-epileptic drugs, overall seizure control in newly diagnosed epilepsy patients has not fundamentally changed over the years. Surgery may help some of these people but, for most of them, the medications do not work, and surgery is not an

Read More »

Epilepsy Articles – April 2018

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles from around the web. The ketogenic diet (KD) appears to be just as effective as corpus callosotomy (CC) and vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) in reducing seizures and improving behavior and quality of life in children with drug-resistant epilepsy, new research shows. – https://www.medscape.com Stress reduction techniques appear to reduce seizure frequency in patients with medication-resistant epilepsy, new

Read More »

Epilepsy Articles – March 2018

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles from around the web. The Link Between Stress and Epilepsy “It is widely accepted that we live in a stressful society. The pressures of financial survival, work, travel in crowded cities and meeting our responsibilities are just some of the stresses that everyone experiences in their daily life. For people with epilepsy there may be additional

Read More »

Epilepsy Articles – February 2018

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles from around the web. “The stress of a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability in a child often causes problems in a family, particularly if each parent or adult caregiver attempts to deal with his or her own fears and frustrations related to the chronic health condition or disability alone and without support. In some

Read More »