Left to right: Louise Delany from the Department of Public Health with jewellers Becky Bliss, Caroline Thomas, Kelly McDonald and Professors Nick Wilson and Michael Baker, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig and Associate Professor George Thomson.
New Zealand jewellers have put their hands together to create medals for three researchers at the University of Otago, Wellington, as a thanks for their work on New Zealand's COVID-19 response.
Three Wellington jewellers, Becky Bliss, Caroline Thomas and Kelly McDonald, presented the one-of-a-kind medals to Professors Nick Wilson and Michael Baker and Dr Amanda Kvalsvig from the Department of Public Health.
The jewellers are part of a worldwide group of 3,000 artisans who have together crafted more than 70,000 small metal silhouettes of hands to gift to those working on the front lines and behind the scenes to combat the pandemic.
The 'Hand Medal' project was created by art jeweller friends Iris Eichenberg from Germany and Jimena Rios from Argentina as a way of honouring the service and sacrifice of those working on the COVID response.
Each medal is registered with a number stamped on the back, allowing the recipients to find out more about the maker of their medal on the project's website.
Example of one of the medals.
That connection is a personal one in Wellington, with Ms Bliss, both a jeweller and a graphic designer who worked for many years in the health sector, reaching out to her friend and former Ministry of Health colleague Louise Delany, who is now a senior lecturer on the Wellington campus, to arrange for the medals to be gifted to Public Health staff.
Ms Delany says the medals celebrate the work of many in the Department of Public Health.
Speaking at a celebration morning tea where the medals were presented, Associate Professor George Thomson said Professors Baker and Wilson and Dr Kvalsvig had worked tirelessly on the COVID response.
“These three people, along with many others here, have done the hard yards. The blogging, the number crunching, the staying up late and getting up early. In February and March they were literally working night and day.”