Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa have started delivering Ngāti Awa awhi packs. A shipment of kai and bulk goods was delivered to Motiti island on Wednesday.
Te
Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa will be contacting those kaumatua registered with
Omataroa No. 2 Trust, Kiwinui Forest Trust, Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa
Kaumātua Programme, Ngāti Awa Kaumātua registered with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa
within the next 5 days. If you are not contacted within the next 5 days please
call 0800 525 009.”
People should have
confidence in the preparations being made on their behalf by their healthcare
professionals says the person leading the Bay of Plenty District Health Board’s
(BOPDHB) COVID-19 response.
“We’re seeing the very
best of our people in this situation,” said BOPDHB Incident Controller Bronwyn
Anstis.
“Everyone is going the
extra mile, putting their hands up and taking on responsibility. For me it’s
been quite a humbling experience. People are going above and beyond and we’ve
seen the results of that in terms of planning and preparedness as a health
system across the Bay of Plenty. It’s very much an attitude of we’re all in
this together and we’re dealing with it,” she said.
Planning for the
BOPDHB’s COVID-19 response began back in early January and this intensified as
the threat developed to the point where on Monday 16 March an Emergency
Operations Centre (EOC) was activated.
Anstis said there were
a number of key actions and activities which had occurred during the planning
phase to assist our health system in its preparedness. These included:
Reducing all non essential electives (surgeries) and
outpatient appointments to create capacity within our hospitals
Moving to alternative ways of providing patient care,
such as the use of telehealth (phone and video consultations with our patients)
Moving to a lockdown environment for our hospitals and
reducing visitor flow to help protect our community and our patients from
COVID-19
Establishing Community Based Assessment Centres (CBACs),
allowing people to be assessed for potential COVID-19 symptoms away from our
hospital and GP environments
Significant preparation (with planning covering workforce,
equipment and training) across our hospital’s Emergency Departments, inpatient
wards and critical care units
Working with our 18 Iwi in the Bay, and Māori in
general, to ensure good access to healthcare services, including exploring
different ways for services to be provided to rural and remote communities
Supporting our primary and community providers,
establishing what supports are needed and working with them on this.
What is an EOC and how does it work?
Anstis said the EOC
activated on 16 March, which she heads up as Incident Controller, was the
BOPDHB’s mechanism for running its response and explained how it operated.
“The EOC is our control
centre for major operations of this sort and was last activated in response to
the Whakaari – White Island eruption in December. Essentially it gives us a
model by which we can coordinate such a huge operation,” she said.
“Within the EOC we have
several key roles or functions. It’s an informational pyramid and a multitude
of teams and services feed into these key roles, who in turn report to the
Incident Controller to help ensure everything is coordinated across our health
services – hospital and community.”
Staff welfare
throughout the health system remained top of mind in such a demanding response
said Anstis, and explained one way in which this was demonstrated within the
EOC.
“This is a
seven-day-a-week response so as part of our planning we have two EOC teams
rostered to ensure our staff who are fulfilling these roles get sufficient
breaks to recharge. The nature of this incident is that it is likely to be a
lengthy response so managing people’s welfare is key.”
Anstis said the DHB
wanted to pay tribute to the work which was ongoing in the Bay’s broader healthcare
system to keep our communities safe from COVID-19.
“We are linked in with
our GPs and community healthcare providers and they are all doing such
incredible work for the communities we serve. Again it’s an attitude of getting
the job done whatever that takes.”
Above: BOPDHB Incident Controller Bronwyn Anstis
For more details
contact:
James
Fuller
Communications
Advisor – Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency
Management has launched a new 0800 number helping Bay of Plenty households meet
essential needs during the national rāhui period.
The number is
0800 884 222 The
call centre will be open from 7am – 7pm, 7 days a week.
Group Controller, Clinton Naude, said
that the phone number was to make sure that no households ‘fell through the
cracks’ during the national lockdown.
“There are many services provided
nationally and locally and people are making extensive use of these already –
Healthline, Lifeline, mental health support, local phone numbers for essential
services, business support and so on. This phone number is not a replacement
for these resources.
“This 0800 number aims to ensure that
household basic needs continue to be met during the national lockdown. We are
particularly concerned about people living alone, perhaps in isolated locations
or without internet and smartphones. There may be people who are not mobile and
have lost their usual support services at this time and are worried about
groceries, diesel for their generator, collecting prescription medicines and so
on.
“We have seen some extraordinary
community cohesiveness in recent days and I hope it continues. That sense of
community is certainly filling some gaps and neighbours are looking out for
neighbours, iwi authorities are making sure their Kaumātua and vulnerable are
looked after, service groups are in touch with their members, volunteer groups
are working hard remotely and essential services continue. I encourage everyone
to use these vital networks where possible. This 0800 number is one more safety
net to make sure no one is left isolated without necessities at this time.
“These are still early days
of household isolation and it may be that help isn’t needed right now, but
it is a number to put away for if or when it is needed. It is also very new, so
we’ll also get a better understanding of the sorts of issues arising and what
people’s needs are over the coming days,” Mr Naude said.
The call centre will carry out a
needs assessment for each household’s basic needs – food, groceries, heating or
other household goods and services. The centre will also be able to provide
advice to callers about other government support agencies when appropriate or
they may be able to assist directly.
ENDS
Noho Tawhiti.
Tū Kotahi – Sit at a distance. Stand as one
For COVID-19 update Go to
covid19.govt.org for more information
During lockdown we may experience all
sorts of things: anxiety, loneliness, fear. Need to talk?
Free phone or text 1737.