Wairoa Mayor Craig Little talks about the town’s big Lotto win amid Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up efforts.
Video / Neil Reid
When Wairoa cancer patient Mel Pomana couldn’t get on the daily bus service to Hastings for chemotherapy, she’d have no choice but to go without for the week.
“If you weren’t there when the van left - that’s too bad, you won’t have treatment,” she said.
She described not having to stress about the three-hour round trip across rugged State Highway 2 roads to get to Hawke’s Bay Hospital as “life-changing”.
Now, many locals like Pomana who had to move “heaven and earth” to get to treatment in Hastings can receive chemotherapy on an ongoing basis in their isolated hometown thanks to a strong push from local nurses.
Te Whatu Ora Hawke’s Bay clinical nurse manager Laura Ledger said the solution had been five years in the making.
Cyclone Gabrielle acted as a catalyst, with the Hawke’s Bay Oncology nursing team administering chemotherapy as an essential service when the town was cut off from the rest of the country.
“When the cyclone hit, an email was sent asking about essential services. Our team jumped at the chance to get that service finally there. Within 10 days, we managed to get everything needed to run chemotherapy treatment safely up to Wairoa,” Ledger said.
Wairoa rural nurse specialist Nerys Williams helped Ledger and associate clinical nurse manager Karen Linley to find all the patients, virtually review them and cluster the group for treatment.
Since the cyclone, 27 patients have used the service.
“[Williams] knows most of Wairoa, so patients are comfortable and feel well-supported when they get treatment from her,” Ledger said.
Patients had been “over the moon” about the service being there to stay.
“We used to have a woman who would move heaven and earth to get here [Hastings],” Linley said. “The roads were flooded once, and we didn’t think there would be a chance she would make it, but we opened the doors in the morning and there she was. She had gone off-roading through a farm. For two years, she travelled here whichever way she could, and then for her final two, she was finally able to do it in relative ease in Wairoa.”
Patients can be treated on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week in Wairoa at the Wairoa Health Clinic but will still need to travel to Hawke’s Bay Hospital for their first chemotherapy treatment and any highly reactive treatments.
Health New Zealand general manager of whānau and communities Penny Rongotoa said extending the service to Wairoa would impact many.
“It reduces stress and has other health benefits, such as patients being more hydrated and warmer, so it is easier to administer the treatment, but patients are making valuable connections with each other, meaning they don’t feel so isolated,” she said.
Pomana said a minutes-long drive to the hospital was significantly better than the three-hour round trip and made a huge difference to people’s lives.
“It’s good having it in our local town here. Even though it’s small, people aren’t often aware of what you’re going through.”
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
