Christchurch City Council abandons plan to sell its City Care maintenance bid as part of its plan to raise $600 million to repair infrastructure damaged by earthquakes.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 21 September 2011 entitled, "Caring for the Convalescent".
An earthquake memories story from Pauline Clark, General Manager, Medical/Surgical and Christchurch Women's and Children's, titled, "Take good care of you".
Worldwide, the numbers of people living with chronic conditions are rapidly on the rise. Chronic illnesses are enduring and often cannot be cured, requiring a strategy for long term management and intervention to prevent further exacerbation. Globally, there has been an increase in interventions using telecommunications technologies to aid patients in their home setting to manage chronic illnesses. Such interventions have often been delivered by nurses. The purpose of this research was to assess whether a particular intervention that had been successfully implemented in the United Kingdom could also be implemented in Canterbury. In particular, this research assessed the perspectives of Canterbury based practice nurses and district nurses. The findings suggest that a majority of both district and practice nurses did not view the service as compatible with their current work situation. Existing workload and concerns over funding of the proposed service were identified as potential barriers. However, the service was perceived as potentially beneficial for some, with the elderly based in rural areas, or patients with chronic mental health needs identified as more likely to benefit than others. Practice nurses expressed strong views on who should deliver such services. Given that it was identified that practice nurses already have in-depth knowledge of their patients’ health, while valuing the strong relationships established with their communities, it was suggested that patients would most benefit from locally based nurses to deliver any community based health services in the future. It was also found that teletriaging is currently widely used by practice nurses across Canterbury to meet a range of health needs, including chronic mental health needs. This suggests that the scope of teletriaging in community health and its potential and full implications are currently not well understood in New Zealand. Significant events, such as the Christchurch earthquakes indicate the potential role of teletriaging in addressing mental health issues, thereby reducing the chronic health burden in the community.
A cartoon about City Care operating in the Red Zone.
View down Papanui Road. Some road works ahead with a sign that says 'Extreme Care Cyclist Merging'.
An earthquake memories story from Jane Evans, Transfer of Care Nurse, Christchurch Hospital, titled, "Carried on and made do".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "City Care workers repair broken water pipes on Matipo Street, probably caused by the morning's earthquake".
A video of a press conference with Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee. Brownlee announced that cabinet has agreed to redevelop the hospital sites throughout Canterbury. This will include the building of additional operating theatres, the replacement of around 5000 beds, the expansion of the intensive care unit and emergency department, and the building of a new hospital for older persons in Burwood.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "City Care workers. From left, Donny Haenga, Mafutga and David Henry enjoying a BBQ put on by City Care for their staff. The trio, from Wellington have work over 100 hours between them since Tuesday when they arrived. 35 specialists from Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin and Timaru have joined the Christchurch staff with trucks and equipment from around NZ to help with the quake repairs".
South Island motorists are warned to take care as snow falls and the Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission is told the engineering profession is in crisis.
An expert in psychosocial care working with the Fiji Red Cross is using her experience after the Christchurch earthquakes to help people in Fiji recover from Cyclone Winston.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Chloe Farr (5) likes what she finds in a care pack given to displaced pupils from St Peters School, which was destroyed in the earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Chloe Farr (5) likes what she finds in a care pack given to displaced pupils from St Peters School, which was destroyed in the earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Chloe Farr (5) likes what she finds in a care pack given to displaced pupils from St Peters School, which was destroyed in the earthquake".
Animals have also suffered upheaval because of the Christchurch earthquakes. Jan Collins is one of those caring for some the hundreds of pets who have been left homeless because of the earthquakes.
A photograph of members from SPCA Canterbury meeting with Massey University's Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT). VERT travelled to Christchurch after the 22 February 2011 earthquake in order to assist with caring for animals.
A photograph of members from Massey University's Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) ready to depart. VERT travelled to Christchurch after the 22 February 2011 earthquake in order to assist with the caring of animals.
View down Papanui Road. Some road works ahead with a sign that says 'Extreme Care Cyclist Merging' and 'Footpath closed please use other side'. On the left is a shop operating out of a shipping container in a site where a building has been demolished.
When it comes to the weird and wonderful in 19th century life, it’s hard to go past the field of medicine: specifically, pharmaceutical and ‘self-care’ remedies. Health-related products can be some of the wackiest and most interesting things we find … Continue reading →
Labour MPs say it's important party sticks to strategy, Man shot dead by police near Napier, Thousands attend Westminister Christchurch memorial, Twickenham packed for Crusaders vs Sharks match, Doubt in Christchurch new earthquake agency worthwhile, and Canterbury aged care firms want certainty; families want beds.
A PDF copy of pages 44-45 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Colombo Street Temporary Streetscape'. Photo: Tim Church. With permission: Christchurch City Council.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nigel Mendonca from World Vision and in conjunction with The Salvation Army delivers a care package to Avonside resident Maggie Reed. The Salvation Army and World Vision are delivering packages all over the worst earthquake affected areas in Christchurch".
A photograph of a member of SPCA helping a member of Massy University's Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) to load medical supplies into their vehicles. VERT travelled to Christchurch after the 22 February 2011 earthquake in order to assist with caring for animals.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nigel Mendonca from World Vision and in conjunction with The Salvation Army delivers a care package to an Avonside residence. The Salvation Army and World Vision are delivering packages all over the worst earthquake affected areas in Christchurch".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nigel Mendonca from World Vision and in conjunction with The Salvation Army delivers a care package to an Avonside residence. The Salvation Army and World Vision are delivering packages all over the worst earthquake affected areas in Christchurch".
The magnitude 6.2 Christchurch earthquake struck the city of Christchurch at 12:51pm on February 22, 2011. The earthquake caused 186 fatalities, a large number of injuries, and resulted in widespread damage to the built environment, including significant disruption to lifeline networks and health care facilities. Critical facilities, such as public and private hospitals, government, non-government and private emergency services, physicians’ offices, clinics and others were severely impacted by this seismic event. Despite these challenges many systems were able to adapt and cope. This thesis presents the physical and functional impact of the Christchurch earthquake on the regional public healthcare system by analysing how it adapted to respond to the emergency and continued to provide health services. Firstly, it assesses the seismic performance of the facilities, mechanical and medical equipment, building contents, internal services and back-up resources. Secondly, it investigates the reduction of functionality for clinical and non-clinical services, induced by the structural and non-structural damage. Thirdly it assesses the impact on single facilities and the redundancy of the health system as a whole following damage to the road, power, water, and wastewater networks. Finally, it assesses the healthcare network's ability to operate under reduced and surged conditions. The effectiveness of a variety of seismic vulnerability preparedness and reduction methods are critically reviewed by comparing the observed performances with the predicted outcomes of the seismic vulnerability and disaster preparedness models. Original methodology is proposed in the thesis which was generated by adapting and building on existing methods. The methodology can be used to predict the geographical distribution of functional loss, the residual capacity and the patient transfer travel time for hospital networks following earthquakes. The methodology is used to define the factors which contributed to the overall resilence of the Canterbury hospital network and the areas which decreased the resilence. The results show that the factors which contributed to the resilence, as well as the factors which caused damage and functionality loss were difficult to foresee and plan for. The non-structural damage to utilities and suspended ceilings was far more disruptive to the provision of healthcare than the minor structural damage to buildings. The physical damage to the healthcare network reduced the capacity, which has further strained a health care system already under pressure. Providing the already high rate of occupancy prior to the Christchurch earthquake the Canterbury healthcare network has still provided adequate healthcare to the community.
Christchurch has experienced a series of over 13,500 earthquakes between September 2010 and January 2012. Some children who have been exposed to earthquakes may experience post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) including difficulty concentrating, feeling anxious, restlessness and confusion. Other children may be resilient to the effects of disaster. Western models of resilience relate to a child’s social support and their capacity to cope. The Māori model of wellbeing relates to whanau (family), wairua (spiritual connections), tinana (the physical body) and hinengaro (the mind and emotions). Children’s concepts of helping, caring and learning may provide insight into resilience without introducing the topic of earthquakes into the conversation, which in itself may provoke an episode of stress. Many researchers have studied the effects of earthquakes on children. However, few studies have examined positive outcomes and resilience or listened to the children’s voices. The objective of this study was to listen to the voices of children who experienced the Canterbury earthquake period in order to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas associated resilience. Individual interviews were conducted with 17 five-year-old participants during their first term of primary school. After the interviews, the teacher shared demographic information and reports on the children’s stress and coping. Six children were identified as New Zealand European and eleven children identified as New Zealand Māori. Children had different views of helping, caring and learning. Themes of resilience from Western and Kaupapa Māori models were identified in transcripts of the children's voices and drawings. Māori children voiced more themes of resilience associated with the Western model, and in the Tapa Whā model, Māori children's transcripts were more likely to be inclusive of all four components of well-being. How five-year-old children, having experienced an earthquake disaster during their preschool years, talk or draw pictures about helping, caring and learning can provide insight into resilience, especially in situations where it is not advisable to re-traumatise children by discussing the disaster event. Future research should interview parents/caregivers and whānau to gain further insights. Considering information from both a Western and a Tapa Whā perspective can also provide new insights into resilience in young children. A limitation of this study is that qualitative studies are not always free from a researcher’s interpretation and are, therefore, subjective.
Thousands of people have turned out for the National Memorial Service in Ōtautahi today, where the 185 victims who died in the Christchurch earthquake 10 years ago are being remembered. Maurice Gardiner's sister, Donna Manning, died in the CTV building collapse. Ms Manning was the presenter of CTV's Good Living Show, and her brother describes her as someone who was the life and soul of the party, and cared deeply for others.
A PDF copy of pages 42-43 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Oxford Terrace Temporary Streetscape and Interpretation'. Photo: Tim Church. With permission: Christchurch City Council.