‘Good samaritan’ dies after trying to prevent fight
‘‘The rest of the hospital staff don’t have time to do that, but it’s really important.’’
McCracken says Clown Doctors also allowed kids to be sad by tapping into a sick child’s emotions and connecting on a therapeutic level while trying to alleviate their stress.
Chief executive of the Starship Foundation, Brad Clarke, and general manager of Starship Child Health, Emma Maddren, confirm the funding will end on May 31 ‘‘due to a shift in funding priorities to focus more on clinical imperatives such as play specialists.’’
Their statement says the Clown Doctors were funded by the ‘‘generosity’’ of individuals and corporate donors, had been valued, and they wished to recognise the ‘‘commitment and dedication’’ the Clown Doctors had brought to Starship’s wards.
The Clown Doctor programme was launched in Christchurch in 2009. Six months later a pilot programme began at Starship, which was officially picked up in June 2010.
Thirty Clown Doctors work across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. They also partnered with the Selwyn Foundation, providing palliative care and support for the elderly in 10 North Island facilities. A ‘‘good samaritan’’ has died after trying to intervene and stop an early morning fight.
Ken Poihipi, 64, stepped in to stop two young men squaring up in a dispute over cheating with a partner, on the main street outside a bar in the south Auckland suburb of Papakura, a witness said.
But the Clendon man was instead assaulted and fell to the ground. The incident occurred about 2.40am yesterday on the corner of Elliot St and Great South Rd.
He was rushed to Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition but later died from his injuries, Detective Senior Sergeant Richard O’Connor said.
Family members said they had yet to learn the full details, but they too had been told Poihipi had died after trying to prevent a fight.
The eye witness, who did not want to be named, said she and Poihipi had been chatting earlier. She said he was being a ‘‘good samaritan’’ by trying to take a young man away so he was not beaten up.
‘‘And the old fella paid with his life’’.
Brother, Buck Poihipi, had driven up from Whakatane to be with loved ones who gathered at the family home in Clendon.
He said Poihipi had been moving homes on Friday, relocating belongings to Rangiriri. He was unsure why Poihipi had been in Papakura.
The family planned to hold a tangi at Horahora Marae in the Waikato
O’Connor said a criminal investigation was under way, two people had already been arrested for assault and were being spoken to by police.
The area just off Papakura’s main shopping strip was cordoned off for much of yesterday morning.
Poihipi’s actions have parallels with those of Auckland woman Lucy Knight.
She was punched in the back of the head after she intervened as a man snatched a Chinese woman’s bag outside a North Shore supermarket.
She spent more than a month in hospital and tired easily, suffering headaches for months afterwards.
The mother-of-six later received a bravery award for her actions. Hendrix Hauwai, was was 17 when he hit Knight, was sentenced to four years, nine months in jail for the assault and earlier attacks.