Greetings from the Editor

Kia ora koutou

I’m stepping in to write the editorial for Tessa this month. She is on standby to travel to the Far North to assist with Civil Defence Welfare operations.

Several of our council staff who are experienced in emergency operations centre roles have also headed north to assist. It is great that the skills and experience gained from local emergency events (and there have been quite a few!) can be called on to help the communities around the North Island that have been so drastically affected by the cyclone. Some of us have stayed here too, just in case!

March signals the start of Autumn, and it is also the time of year when many of our community projects accelerate back into action.

I am pleased to say the Volunteer Expos are back again in Kaiapoi, Pegasus and Rangiora. These are an ideal opportunity for potential volunteers to chat to local groups and organisations. If your group would like to attract more volunteers and be involved in the Expos, please contact me at wendy.howe@wmk.govt.nz

The Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs is a nationwide rural programme with the aim to support those who are disadvantaged in the labour market into sustainable employment. We are delighted that the Waimakariri district has been accepted for a six month pilot programme. The new coordinator, Elizabeth Trevathan, will be joining the Community Team in mid-March. I’m sure there will be a profile on Elizabeth in the next Chatter edition.

Next Steps website is launching later this month. This site will be a significant asset in enabling people to access the help they need. There will be lots of promotion of this site coming soon.

Also happening this month is a poster competition for children and young people to promote cultural inclusion and understanding, more details on page 46. There is so much useful information from many varied community organisations in this month’s edition. I hope you can relax for a few minutes to read it through.

Bye-bye Summer, hello Autumn.

Ka Kite

Return Taxi Service to Rangiora from Christchurch Hospital

There have been a number of people asking about the entitlements of North Canterbury residents regarding hospital discharge and taxi services. Historically, the CDHB agreed to provide return taxi transport in line with the below agreement to Rangiora residents in certain situations. This was in response to the removal of the local after hours service, in ~ 2018.

This arrangement still stands. However many hospital staff do not seem to be aware of this, and the patient needs to request this service. It may help if you snip or print this text below and put it in your wallet, or the wallet of your family to use in these situations.

16 September 2022 Update

When the GPs pulled out of providing an afterhours health service for the Rangiora population an agreement was reached whereby any patient who was instructed by the telephone service or St John to go to 24 hour surgery or ED was eligible to be transported back to Rangiora by taxi at the cost of planning and funding.

Order the usual Gold Band taxi and charge it to cost code 988. If a patient self-presents to ED then they are not eligible for this service.

If you have questions about this –contact martin.pugh@wmk.govt.nz

Expressions of Interest!

Are you interested in helping organise a community Christmas dinner in Rangiora for Christmas Day 2023?

If you would like to be involved in planning and organising this day we would love to hear from you – contact Grant Harris on grant.harris148@gmail.com or phone 021 534 683.

Rivertown Options, a preloved clothing store as part of the Person to Person Help Trust, is in need of a volunteer to take on a 12.30pm to 2.30pm shift on a Tuesday as a sole charge position. Enquiries to Audrey Dragovich Ph 022 308 1618. Also looking for on call volunteers.