Blyth said when they started the process, all the telcos had denied there was an issue, so Connect Tararua had mapped the district with tools which allowed them to see the strength of cellphone signals.
“It was funny how everyone stopped when we presented them with this very hard data. The silence was most deafening and we’ve gone from a position where everyone said ‘there’s not a problem’ to ‘oh, maybe we need to think about this’.
“Everyone agrees, yes, something needs to be done. The argument is who pays.”
He said they had lobbied the Government a lot and had been getting different messages.
“I’m hesitant to say whether we’ve won the battle or not won the battle, because that would be anybody’s guess at the moment.”
While he was cautiously optimistic, he said until he saw them pouring the concrete for the foundations, he wouldn’t believe it had happened.
Grant, who owned New Zealand Natural Clothing, said while business was up 20% they were getting more complaints about cellular coverage in their shop because people couldn’t ring up and ask questions about what a family member might have bought.
“Conveniently we have really good tech and we can tell them because they’ve shopped with us before and we know exactly what they’ve bought.
“We also have cellular coverage via Wi-Fi these days, so all of our new phones actually have the ability to go Wi-Fi calling.”
However, the general population of Norsewood didn’t know about this or didn’t have the technology to be able to use that system.
“Then of course we’ve got the 33,000 visitors that we have through our front door who have no connectivity because we don’t.”
Grant said they hadn’t eradicated all the challenges and it was about visitor numbers and visitor experiences.
“Norsewood Heritage Village attracts people. We thrive on that. And it’s really giving that experience unhindered.”
Health was a major reason for the need and a recent innovation in ambulance services was Good SAM (Good Smartphone Activated Medics).
Blyth said it allowed first responders to get to patients quickly.
“It’s been well-documented that the quicker a first responder gets to somebody, the higher their chances of recovery or staying alive, or just better outcomes full stop.”
Good SAM is an app on a mobile phone and those who have first aid training could register to be alerted if there was a medical event in their area.
“The great thing about this product is if the first person doesn’t respond it goes out by about 1km range.
“What it does is it allows them to get someone on site a hell of a lot quicker.”
The technology would also allow the responder to point the camera of their phone at the patient, which would then send information back to the call centre and allow their doctors to assess the problem and then give advice to the first aider on what needed to be done.
“Given that St John’s are so stretched, this is an eye-opener for what could be done to extend life and the possibilities around it,” Blyth said.
“The challenges [were] obviously the need for reliable coverage.
“As a service, you can see how it would be life-altering. I mean, even just imagine someone has an accident on SH2 or something between Woodville and Dannevirke, the ability for them to set off a thing, have someone appear quickly.
“If we’ve got a situation where the Woodville ambulances are at a call in say Pahīatua and the Dannevirke ambulances are at a call in Norsewood and they’re waiting for someone to turn up, at least somebody’s there ahead of time to help people move forward.”
Councillor Scott Gilmore said the business opportunities and convenience spoke for themselves but the health side of it was vital considering the challenges with the local health system.
He asked how far along Connect Tararua was in raising the health side as a compelling argument.
Blyth said he had only learned about Good SAM at a recent Tuanz (Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand) conference and it was a product that they wanted to get out to people in the Tararua District.
He said he wanted to get them out and get people to understand it was there and as many people registered as possible.
“I also see it as a way to possibly take a little bit of pressure off [St John’s].”
