St John thanks caring Warkworth community

from Mahurangi Matters_Issue 448_13 February 2023

CHARITY SAUSAGE SIZZLE

Te Whatu Ora has praised the kindness of the Warkworth community for coming to the aid of a patient transport shuttle stranded between floodwaters and landslips on January 27.

The shuttle’s driver, Jeanette Schurgers, and nine passengers, who had attended specialist healthcare appointments in Auckland, were returning to Whangārei in the late afternoon when the roads to the north and south became blocked by floodwaters, landslips and fallen trees. They found themselves stranded in Warkworth, where the community came to their aid.

Hato Hone St John welcomed them into their station, offered hot drinks and then phoned around their networks to find somewhere for Schurgers and the passengers to stay.

They were offered stretchers and mattresses from the local scout den and other people offered blankets but, in the end, they didn’t need to use them because Warkworth Hospital, an aged care facility, invited them in for the night as they had some spare beds and reclining La-Z-Boy chairs.

Transport and accommodation manager Calvin de Boer praised the Warkworth community for their assistance and hospitality “for which we are extremely grateful”.

“And, our driver Jeanette also went above and beyond the call of duty, even staying up overnight to ensure our shuttle’s passengers were okay.”

On the Saturday morning, de Boer travelled to Warkworth with another shuttle driver so that Jeannette did not need to drive back up to Whangārei Hospital having had only a couple of hours of sleep.

“Once Dome Valley reopened after the slips had been cleared, we were able to get through. We arrived around 10am and the passengers were very quick to share their praise for Jeanette. As her manager, it certainly makes me proud.”

Calvin said that in the 19 years that the patient transport shuttle had run, an event like this had never happened – “99.99 percent of the time, the trips go really smoothly.”

The service operates every weekday, departing from Whangārei Hospital at 7am and leaving Auckland at 3pm for the return home. The service is available free of charge to anyone needing to attend a healthcare appointment in Auckland.

Most passengers are people travelling for radiotherapy sessions and other specialist hospital and health care appointments that are not available in Whangārei.

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Buildings assessed

Auckland Council is continuing to carry out building assessments across Tāmaki Makaurau to determine whether a building is safe to occupy and whether it poses a safety risk to others. As Mahurangi Matters went to press, there were four buildings red-stickered in Puhoi and six buildings yellow-stickered in Puhoi and Upper Waiwera. A red sticker indicates a building cannot be used and entry is prohibited because it has sustained moderate or heavy damage and poses a significant risk to health or life. This could be from the building itself, from external factors such as adjacent buildings, or from ground failure. A yellow indicates a building may have sustained moderate damage and access is restricted. This generally means either some identified areas of the building pose a significant hazard and cannot be used, or that the public cannot enter except under supervision for a limited time on essential business. This could include emergency or assessment purposes, for example, or removing critical business records, valuables and property.