A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Medical professionals are calling for higher rates of immunisation as presentations are increasing at Gisborne Hospital.
And it’s only the first wave of winter illnesses which has arrived in Tairāwhiti.
Last week, as the second term drew to a close, Te Hapara School reported that 60 percent of students had been away ill during the term.
Te Whatu Ora-Tairāwhiti interim hospital and specialist services lead Lynsey Bartlett said June was the time when the hospital started coming under increasing pressure due to influenza (flu) and other respiratory illnesses.
“Temperatures have dropped and we’re seeing low single digits regularly now.
“In the months leading into winter we’ve been getting our hospital as ready as we can, so our front-line staff aren’t overwhelmed with high presentations to our Emergency Department (ED).
“The reality is that pre-Covid, our EDs averaged 51 presentations each day of which 21 percent had to be admitted.
“So far this year, we are averaging 71 presentations each day and we have not yet hit the winter wave where we expect these numbers to increase.
“On top of the increased number of patients coming to the ED and being admitted, our staff also tell us just how much sicker and with more complex conditions, the patients we are seeing on a daily basis are.”
Mrs Bartlett said staffing recruitment levels were “steadily increasing” which would help with winter hospitalisations.
But bed capacity was still a finite resource.
Three Rivers Medical Centre managing partner Dr Fergus Aitcheson said there was a direct correlation between home temperature and incidence of winter respiratory illness.
“People should find out if they are eligible for the Winter Energy Payment, and access that to help keep the living areas in their home warm — between 18 and 21 degrees.
“If they live in a rental home, the landlord is legally required to ensure the dwelling meets the Healthy Home standards.
“The vast majority of winter respiratory illness is viral, and most adults and older children can self-manage at home without consulting a GP.”
Dr Aitcheson said the Healthify website https://healthify.nz/health-a-z/ had good information about coughs in adults and children.
“It’s not unusual for a post-viral cough to linger for a few weeks and recovery is not helped by antibiotics.
“People with asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) should ensure that they have a supply of their usual inhaled medicines at home.”
Mrs Bartlett said higher rates of immunisation on a range of illnesses were needed to help stop people from getting sick and to keep ED presentations and admissions to manageable levels.
“Our staff are part of the community, too, which means they are also vulnerable to winter illnesses.
“If they are off sick, they can’t help you when you are sick.
“Having high staff flu vaccination rates is a priority for all hospitals and we’re working hard to vaccinate and protect as many of our staff as possible.”
Dr Aitcheson said flu vaccine uptake seemed to be tracking along as in previous years.
“But we are seeing people being hospitalised with Influenza A, and some of these folk are really unwell.”
Dr Aitcheson said the district’s GPs were concerned about the “critically low rates of routine childhood immunisation, including coverage for whooping cough and measles”.
“Young babies, who have undeveloped immune systems, are especially vulnerable to whooping cough and anyone visiting a six-week-old or younger infant really should be up-to-date with whooping cough vaccine.
“With travel starting up again globally, it is only a matter of time before Aotearoa faces a measles outbreak.
“People may not recall the 2019 outbreak in Samoa, where 83 people, mostly children, lost their lives.
“That can happen here.”
Dr Aitcheson said this winter seemed no better or worse than previous winters.
“Over the last few years, we have noticed that the onset of the peak winter demand didn’t really hit until late July and the ‘tail’ of the winter bulge continued through to October.
“With the recent bad weather, the onset may be a little earlier with people spending more time indoors.”
Community pharmacy spokesman Sean Shivnan said many customers were presenting with cold and flu-like symptoms.
The uptake of flu vaccinations had been steady, but Covid booster vaccines “have dropped off”.
Te Hapara School principal Linda Savage said winter illnesses had had a dramatic impact on the school.
“In nine weeks 60 percent of our children were away from school due to illness.
“While about 20 percent of these children had a week or less overall off for medical reasons, some of our tamariki have had up to half the term off.
Students had been ill with Covid-19, “some had a flu type bug, the vomiting and diarrhoea bug hitting some” and just generally being unwell with coughs and colds.
“Over the past couple of years, with Covid being around, we’ve seen a number of whānau being cautious about their children being at school with loads of bugs going around.
“It has certainly impacted learning.
“We’ve also had a number of staff absent due to illness this term which is difficult when relievers are hard to find.
“This has, at times, impacted on teaching programmes.”