Meet the team
Pip Fowler
Pip Fowler is a Principal Lecturer in Communication at The Open Polytechnic, teaching Writing for the Web and advising on e-learning. She is also a co-director of digital storytelling company Lasso Limited. Pip has been a carer herself, supporting her husband, Antony, who died two years ago after a long battle with Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA). She now lives in Wellington with her two daughters, Pamela and Olivia.
View Into the Rose Garden, the digital story Pip made for Antony.
Margie Wheeler
Margie Wheeler is a communication specialist and former radio journalist, who cared for her husband, Jef, during his struggle with cancer in 2007/08. She is a co-director, with fellow Family Care Radio host Pip Fowler, of digital storytelling company Lasso Limited. Margie is a dedicated Wellingtonian. View her digitale, Wellington - My South Coast.
Todd Niall
Todd Niall is a senior journalist and broadcaster with Radio New Zealand. In recent years he has written and published two New Zealand motoring histories, The Trekka Dynasty and Bambina, as well as Valenzia, the diary of Team New Zealand's 2007 America's Cup Campaign. His Auckland household includes his wife, two of their three young/adult children, and his elderly old mother-in-law.
Anna Filliol
Anna Filliol has led meditation classes for many years. She says that people often start to meditate to relax, but find that other areas of their lives improve; they become more content ... more alive. Anna has written her five-minute meditations especially for carers to help them create happier, more balanced lives. Anna lives in Wellington with her husband, Sylvain, and her children, Kitty and Jack. Visit Anna's web site, Heart Temples.
Wayne Halkyard
Wayne Halkyard is a national champion bodybuilder and fitness instructor who lives in Doubtless Bay. Wayne specialises in helping older and disabled people in his community make positive changes to their lifestyle. Hear his advice about nutrition, and ways to enjoy enduring good health at any age, in Wayne's Physical Wellness five minute features! You can order back issues of Family Care featuring the Strength for Caring 15 minute exercise programme for carers, and Wayne's other tips to build strength, energy, and wellbeing, by clicking here. You can also request a free beginner's exercise band to use when doing the Strength for Caring exercises!
Carers New Zealand
Tanya Kelly, Sara Rogers, Laurie Hilsgen (with Wolfgang)
The Carers NZ team is based at Cable Bay in the Far North. Laurie is a co-founder of the national non-profit organisation and publishes and edits Family Care magazine. Sara and Tanya are Carers NZ's national coordinators and work with carers from around the country every day. Sara and Tanya look forward to receiving your feedback so we can ensure that Family Care Radio reflects your issues and concerns. Wolfgang is one of two naughty elderly Jack Russells who share the Carers NZ office!
The NZ Continence Association
Association professionals such as Sonja Karon and other specialists will be regular guests on Family Care Radio, offering advice for families dealing with continence issues at home. The NZCA and Carers NZ also publish continence advice in every issue of Family Care magazine! If you have a specific question for a continence nurse, phone the confidential, free national helpline ...
0800 650 659.