Former Cook Islands PM and Auckland GP Dr Joe Williams. Photo / RNZ
Former Cook Islands PM and Auckland GP Dr Joe Williams. Photo / RNZ
New Zealand's latest Covid-19 death, Dr Joe Williams, leaves behind a long legacy of helping the Pasifika community through the health system - and his family plan to continue their loved one's mission.
Williams, former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands and a much-respected GP, will be remembered by many.
His nephew Dr Kiki Maoate is one.
Speaking to the Herald today, Maoate said he remembers his uncle 50 years ago stepping up to help bring about change to New Zealand's health system.
"That was a crucial moment in our relationship, when I was young. He was an inspiration."
"His closeness and wanting to help people gave him that drive to be good at what he did."
Maoate said he remembered being in Tahiti for a Ministers of Health conference and out of the blue Williams got Jean Gabilou, one of the most famous singers in the Pacific from Tahiti, to sit with them.
"The breadth of the relationships and friendships he made - I mean there is this famous singer and him having a chat at a table, exchanging CDs and songs and having a great laugh and reminiscing in that time amongst all these health officials, it was very poignant at that time."
He said as a tribute to Williams his family planned to pick up where he left off and continue to help advantage the Pacific community through the health system.
"There is a deep loss among us, there is also a deep sense of strength that needs to come out as we look and reflect and drive the agendas that he has already installed in us, and at the end of the day it is about the people."
Williams, 85, was admitted to hospital after he became sick when it is thought he might have come in close contact to someone connected to the initial Auckland cluster. His Mt Wellington practice is not far from the Americold coolstore.
The widely-respected medical professional died in Auckland City Hospital last night.
He becomes the 24th person in New Zealand to die from Covid-19 and the second in less than 24 hours related to the current Auckland cluster.
An Americold worker in his 50s died at Middlemore Hospital after battling the virus.
The man, a father of four, was the first Covid-19 death from the Auckland cluster that has infected 152 people.
The Ministry of Health reported three new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today - two in the community linked to the wider Auckland cluster, and one a returning traveller at a managed isolation facility.
Today there are two people in hospital, one in North Shore Hospital's general ward and one in ICU in Waikato Hospital.
Here's what we know about New Zealand's Covid-19 deaths:
The 73-year old who lived a quiet life in the West Coast was the first coronavirus-linked death in New Zealand.
Anne Guenole died on March 29, early in the morning. She'd been admitted to Grey Base Hospital in Greymouth only days earlier with suspected influenza.
Anne Guenole, 73, was the first New Zealander to die from Covid-19. Photo / Supplied
Her son-in-law Brett Cummings told The Herald Guenole suffered from a temperature and bad diarrhoea but didn't have a cough.
The great-grandmother had been offered a ventilator but after the risks were explained to her she chose to stay on oxygen.
She was immediately housed in the hospital's isolation room, with her children, nurses and doctors wearing gloves and masks. But medical staff did not wear eye protection and as a result 21 staff self-isolated afterwards, as did her family.
Cummings said it was "bizarre" that the life-long West Coaster caught the virus as she led a quiet life.
Guenole, who lived in Kaiata, outside Greymouth, barely travelled and only drove the 5km from her home to town, where she parked on the fringes and walked in, he said.
Lockdown restrictions meant her family weren't able to visit her or be with her before she died in hospital.
Hospital staff did all they could to provide her comfort before her death, McElnay said.
April 9: Unnamed, Christchurch
A woman in her 90s died. She was one of the 20 Rosewood rest home residents to be moved to Burwood Hospital in an effort to halt the spread of the virus and the first death linked to the cluster.
Deputy director of public health Dr Caroline McElnay said the woman, who had recently tested positive for the virus, had underlying health conditions.
Lockdown restrictions meant her family weren't able to visit her or be with her before she died in hospital.
April 10: Bernard Pope, Christchurch
He trained some of the country's best boxers, but it was Covid-19 which eventually took out one of the legends of the sport, Bernard Pope.
The 78-year-old was also a resident at Rosewood and was transferred to Burwood Hospital where he died on April 10.
Fellow boxing coach Phil Shatford, 63, said it was Pope who taught him everything he knew on the path to the national coaching stage and eventually a Queen's Service Medal for his services to boxing.
Boxing coach Bernard Pope. Photo / Supplied
"Bernie was my boxing coach for many years. After that he was basically like a father to me for many years."
He had his first boxing match under Pope's wing aged 13.
The last time he saw Pope was just before the nationwide lockdown.
"Bernie has been in a few homes. Rosewood was the last one he was in obviously. I would go and see Bernie heaps of times. I only went to Rosewood about three times because, oh, it was so sad seeing the guy in that sort of state."
One of the founders of the Cretans Association of New Zealand, he served as the president for some years.
Chrisanthos (Christo) Tzanoudakis, 87, died in Wellington after contracting the coronavirus. Photo / Supplied
Current president Stamatis Nikitopoulos announced Tzanoudakis' death with "a heavy heart" on Facebook.
"He was a very much-loved man by all his family and friends and a well-respected member of the Cretan Associations and the broader Greek Orthodox Community in Wellington."
He said Tzanoudakis' family wanted to grieve for their "loving, kindest and warmest father and grandfather".
April 13: Unnamed, Christchurch
The third Rosewood rest home resident to die from the virus was a man in his 80s. He'd been moved from the home to Burwood Hospital, where he died on April 13.
April 14: Covid-19's deadliest day
Four people died in New Zealand after being infected with Covid-19.
Three men were linked to the Rosewood cluster - two of them were aged in their 80s, and one was in his 90s.
The fourth death that day was a resident of a Kāpiti Coast retirement village. The man fell sick during four days of self-isolation at their apartment at Raumati's Coastal Villas after a trip to Australia.
On April 17: Two people died overnight.
One was in Waikato Hospital, a man in his 90s who was linked to the Matamata cluster. The second victim on that day was a woman in her 80s who had been a Rosewood rest home resident.
April 19: (unnamed), Invercargill
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield announced that a death in Invercargill the previous Tuesday was "confirmed as Covid-19 related".
April 21: Unnamed, Auckland
A woman in her 70s who was a resident from St Margaret's care home in Auckland's Te Atatū died.
April 22: Unnamed, Christchurch
A woman in her 70s, this time a resident of Rosewood, died.
