Thankful to be living in a place where people care

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Since my letter last month on my concerns about the potential closure of Alzheimer’s Gisborne, I am pleased to announce the heartening news of the appointment of a new coordinator. And next month the Sherwood Club will again be operating three days a week of respite care for those who qualify.

But I remain concerned for other elderly care services. Since my retirement in the 1990s I have volunteered for several caring organisations; I was already part of The Hearing Association. In 1990 I became the first male volunteer for the Arohaina Centre for Seniors and in 2002, after my wife showed signs of dementia, we joined the Alzheimers Sherwood Club adjacent to the Arthritis NZ office in the Adair block. Before my wife’s dementia progressed I was a volunteer sighted person for the Blind Foundation tandem.

Sadly Arthritis NZ is now gone from Gisborne. So too has the Hearing Association and the Anglican Care Arohaina Drop-in Centre.

Although still going strong, Age Concern has needed to drastically reduce its services to clients.

Gisborne no longer has a Huntington’s coordinator, only a Napier telephone number.

All these valuable services are sadly missed.

Thankfully we still have the local branches of The Blind Foundation, Citizens Advice Bureau, stroke support groups and the Cancer Society, plus our marvellous Sunshine service. All these exist only because of willing volunteers.

These services were and are important to assist those in need, who are less fortunate than ourselves.

The importance of community service lies in the fact that it connects us to the community by improving it and making it a better place for all of us to live in.

Although I am still quite worried about this decline, I am pleased to be living in Gisborne Tairāwhiti where many people care.

Bob Hughes