The chief medical officer of health for the region, Dr Alistair Humphrey, says people carrying out repairs on their earthquake-stricken properties need to be wary of asbestos.
An earthquake memories story from Pleayo Tovaranonte, Medical Registrar, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Focus on the patients you can help".
An earthquake memories story from Christina MacLachlan, Registrar, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Not just another day at the office: ICU".
An earthquake memories story from Richard Clinghan, Resident Medical Officer, titled, "Earthquakes not enough to put off British doctors".
An earthquake memories story from Hellen Donnithorne, Food Services Manager, Medirest, Burwood, titled, "Patients fed on time with good meals".
An earthquake memories story from Alison Gallant, Charge Nurse Manager, Ward 31, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Patients put their faith in us".
An earthquake memories story from Mike Corboy, Electrician, The Princess Margaret Hospital Maintenance, titled, "You don't see that everyday".
An earthquake memories story from Pauline Clark, General Manager, Medical/Surgical and Christchurch Women's and Children's, titled, "Take good care of you".
An earthquake memories story from Justin Roake, Pete Laws, and Adib (Eddie) Khanafer, Vascular Surgeons, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Whole country pulled together".
Those clearing up earthquake-damaged buildings in Canterbury are being warned to beware of asbestos.
An earthquake memories story from Marilyn Ollett, Service Manager, General Surgery/Cardiac Surgery, titled, "We had to think on our feet".
An earthquake memories story from Kate Cooper, Associate Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Department, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Sharing made it so much easier".
A report commissioned by the Ministry of Health has found Canterbury residents are unlikely to suffer any health risks from asbestos exposure during the canterbury earthquake repairs. The Report is a review of Scientific Evidence of Non Occuptional Risks - and was convened by the Royal Society and the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor. Sir David Skegg, president of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Dr Alistair Humphrey, Canterbury Medical Officer of Health.
The increase began after Christchurch's 2011 earthquakes, but the District Health Board is expecting to face even more challenges following effects of the Port Hills fires and last year's earthquake in Kaikoura.
Five years on from the Canterbury earthquakes, many children are still showing signs of stress. Our health correspondent Karen Brown says child health and education experts want children to get more help.
An earthquake memories story from Sue Gillan, Personal Assistant to General Manager Older Person's, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, The Princess Margaret Hospital, titled, "All hands on deck".
An earthquake memories story from Murray Caird, Charge Orderly, The Princess Margaret Hospital, titled, "I take off my hat to those nurses".
This paper identifies and analyses the networks of support for tangata whaiora (mental health clients) utilising a kaupapa Mäori health service following the Ötautahi/Christchurch earthquakes in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2010 to 2012. Semi- structured interviews were undertaken with 39 participants, comprising clients (Mäori and Päkehä), staff, managers and board members of a kaupapa Mäori provider in the city. Selected quotes are presented alongside a social network analysis of the support accessed by all participants. Results show the signifi cant isolation of both Mäori and Päkehä mental health clients post- disaster and the complexity of individuals and collectives dealing with temporally and spatially overlapping hazards and disasters at personal, whänau and community level.
This document reviews research-based understandings of the concept of resilience. A conceptual model is developed which identifies a number of the factors that influence individual and household resilience. Guided by the model, a series of recommendations are developed for practices that will support individual and household resilience in Canterbury in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 earthquakes.
This report presents the experiences of Tangata Whaiora (Mental health clients) through the disastrous earthquakes that struck Otautahi/Christchurch in 2010-11. It further analysis these experience to how show the social networks these individuals, their whānau, supporting staff respond and recover to a significant urban disaster. The disaster challenged the mental health of those individuals who are impacted and the operations of organisations and networks that support and care for the mentally ill. How individuals and their families navigate a post-disaster landscape provides an unfortunate but unique opportunity to analyse how these support networks respond to severe disruption. Tangata Whaiora possess experiences of micro-scale personal and family disasters and were not necessarily shocked by the loss of normality in Ōtautahi as a result of the earthquakes. The organic provision of clear leadership, outstanding commitment by staff, and ongoing personal and institutional dedication in the very trying circumstances of working in a post-disaster landscape all contributed to Te Awa o te Ora’s notable response to the disaster.
A PDF copy of a frequently asked question page from the union.org.nz website, answering the question, "What does the law say about health and safety at work after an earthquake?".
Alistair Hamilton is the Canterbury Medical Officer of Health.
A graphic giving details of the proposed health precinct.
The number of emergency psychiatric assessments in Christchurch has more than doubled since the earthquakes struck.
Christchurch architect Bob Burnett founded the Superhome movement after his children got sick "bouncing around substandard rentals" after the Christchurch earthquake.
The 22nd February 2011, Mw 6.3 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand caused major damage to critical infrastructure, including the healthcare system. The Natural Hazard Platform of NZ funded a short-term project called “Hospital Functions and Services” to support the Canterbury District Health Board’s (CDHB) efforts in capturing standardized data that describe the effects of the earthquake on the Canterbury region’s main hospital system. The project utilised a survey tool originally developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to assess the loss of function of hospitals in the Maule and Bío-Bío regions following the 27th February 2010, Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake in Chile. This paper describes the application of the JHU tool for surveying the impact of Christchurch earthquake on the CDHB Hospital System, including the system’s residual capacity to deliver emergency response and health care. A short summary of the impact of the Christchurch earthquake on other CDHB public and private hospitals is also provided. This study demonstrates that, as was observed in other earthquakes around the world, the effects of damage to non-structural building components, equipment, utility lifelines, and transportation were far more disruptive than the minor structural damage observed in buildings (FEMA 2007). Earthquake related complications with re-supply and other organizational aspects also impacted the emergency response and the healthcare facilities’ residual capacity to deliver services in the short and long terms.
Part the First Movember is upon us once again, and to celebrate Undershaved Overgrown Archaeology brings to you a brief history of facial hair in Aotearoa. Movember is all about men’s health, and we’ve previously covered health in the blog … Continue reading →
A graphic giving statistics about the Canterbury District Health Board.
Social and natural capital are fundamental to people’s wellbeing, often within the context of local community. Developing communities and linking people together provide benefits in terms of mental well-being, physical activity and other associated health outcomes. The research presented here was carried out in Christchurch - Ōtautahi, New Zealand, a city currently re-building, after a series of devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Poor mental health has been shown to be a significant post-earthquake problem, and social connection has been postulated as part of a solution. By curating a disparate set of community services, activities and facilities, organised into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database, we created i) an accessibility analysis of 11 health and well-being services, ii) a mobility scenario analysis focusing on 4 general well-being services and iii) a location-allocation model focusing on 3 primary health care and welfare location optimisation. Our results demonstrate that overall, the majority of neighbourhoods in Christchurch benefit from a high level of accessibility to almost all the services; but with an urban-rural gradient (the further away from the centre, the less services are available, as is expected). The noticeable exception to this trend, is that the more deprived eastern suburbs have poorer accessibility, suggesting social inequity in accessibility. The findings presented here show the potential of optimisation modelling and database curation for urban and community facility planning purposes.
David Meates is Chief Executive of the Canterbury District Health Board.