Late GP’s plea leads to quilt delivery – ‘with love’

from 7 April 2023 Devonport Flagstaff

base with multi-disciplinary oyster exhibition

A group of keen quilters has crafted 20 quilts for Harbour Hospice North Shore in a project suggested by popular Devonport GP Heidi MacRae when she was under end-of-life care.

The quilts were presented at hospice’s Takapuna facility last week by MacRae’s mother, Christine Miller, and four other members of the sewing group she belongs to.

Each quilt took many hours to complete and all were “made with love”, said Miller, who was making her first visit back to the hospice since her daughter’s death in November last year.

The MedPlus Hauraki GP – who campaigned for New Zealanders to be provided with better access to cancer treatment and for Harbour Hospice –had learned from nurses that quilt donations had dropped away during major redevelopment at the North Shore site.

“And Heidi just said to me, ‘Mum make it happen’,” Miller recalled.

Miller took the idea to a fellow member of Sew’n’Sews, a group of quilting enthusiasts that meets monthly at a community centre in Paremoremo.

The word went out on email and other members responded, bringing in partly completed quilts and working on them or combining their handiwork. “And there will be more to come,” Miller says.

The quilts will be given to patients in the hospice’s inpatient unit and to others being cared for at home by its multidisciplinary North Shore community team.

On the back edge of each quilt, Miller has carefully penned the words, “Made with love by the Sew’n’Sews for Harbour Hospice”.

Miller said MacRae’s family had appreciated being able to visit Heidi at any time.

The mother of three children, aged 23, 20 and 15, was also welcome to have her dog Perrita with her at hospice.

MacRae was housed in the inpatient unit, which was completed before the rest of a $20 million upgrade that has added more facilities for patients, whanau and staff.

Hospice said it was very grateful for the quilts, which were blessed by its volunteer service manager, Vicki Parker, when they were handed over.

“The nurses really enjoy getting to know their patients and choosing a quilt for them that best matches their personality,” Parker said.

“They are treasured by those who receive them and become very important to the family after their loved one has died.”

By Rob Drent

A multi-billion-dollar light-rail tunnel from the State Highway One motorway through Takapuna, down the Devonport peninsula to Ngataringa Rd and then under the sea to the city, is a somewhat surprise option put up for a second harbour crossing. It includes a road tunnel on another route as well.

I’m not usually one to agree with New Zealand Herald commentator Simon Wilson. But he describes this plan as the “fantasy option”.

He’s on the mark this time. It’s ridiculously expensive and would take Shore rail commuters on an unnecessary hop through Devonport.

The idea takes me back 20 years, when second harbour crossings were being put forward (No, no real progress since then in our rapidly growing, increasingly congested city).

Around 20 options were put up then, including one for a bridge from the city to Stanley Point. How this became a possibility, I’ll never know.

Likewise, the tunnel down the Devonport peninsula, one of five options on the table now, should never have seen the light of day.

Surely after all the debate, transport studies and cost investigations over the years, the government could have narrowed down the choices to three?

It is promising though, that government seems to have signed up to the need for light rail on the Shore as part of any second harbour crossing.

The issue will be a real test of the new Chris Hipkins-led regime, and whether he gets sign-off across the line this year could be a key touchpoint for Auckland voters in the 2023 general election. If National forms a government, the second harbour crossing is bound to be revisited with a heavier emphasis on a road-based solution.

Given the changes pending for Shore transport, I’d suggest the planned $50 million-plus upgrade of Lake Rd should be put on hold until the final second harbour-crossing option is decided. Four out of the five options on the table have light rail leaving from Takapuna for the city. The current Lake Rd upgrade doesn’t “fix” the carriageway to the expectation of the public or really give much hope of traffic reduction. Changes in transport delivery that join up with a light-rail system would do so.

Maybe my push for modern trams on Lake Rd, linking up with light rail, isn’t so loony after all.

The excitement around North Shore Rugby Club’s 150th celebrations has built over recent weeks. The well-attended launch of the C’mon Shore! history of the club was indicative of the club’s place in the community. Its golf day and centenary ball have sold out.

For the general public, there’s still a chance to see a top Devonport (and New Zealand) sporting institution in full flight. Its four top sides are in action at Vauxhall Rd on Good Friday – the under 21s, under 85kg, premier reserves and premiers all playing against arch-rivals Takapuna. It should be a great atmosphere and a crowd around of 2000 is possible.

I can report the clubrooms are looking spick and span, with a new kitchen. For anyone wanting to learn a bit more about the club, its honours board and donated jerseys offer a fascinating jaunt into its past. And its boutique museum of club history and memorabilia is first class.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is once again off the mark in threatening council legal action against homeowners who don’t clean out stormwater drains that run across their properties. How about the hundreds of council drains that haven’t been cleared out across the city, and then contributed to recent flooding? Look back at the example of the North Shore Rugby Club, which itself cleaned out drains on the council-owned Vauxhall Rd sports grounds. Prior to Cyclone Gabrielle, 2500 litres of sludge was cleaned out.

Brown’s black-and-white view of the world is often simplistic.

What about residents who have council stormwater manholes on their properties or water flows that come from council culverts upstream?

Time to have another rethink, Wayne.

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Auction

Thursday 20th April at 1:00 pm

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