Tūwharetoa Health team all set for Covid-19 testing at the Waitahanui Hall, 6 June 2020.
Tūwharetoa Health team all set for Covid-19 testing at the Waitahanui Hall, 6 June 2020.
To improve the health of all who live in the rohe of Ngāti Tūwharetoa is a worthy challenge at best, let alone in the face of a pandemic.
Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust chairman Ian Farquhar says Covid-19 presented a raft of challenges, and now is a great time to reflect on how the organisation coped. The results from a review of the trust by Lakes District Health Board were released recently and the findings were that the response far exceeded expectations.
Ian said the board wanted to assess how effective Tūwharetoa Health's response was to Covid-19. He said during Covid-19 it was business as usual plus extra duties, and at times everyone had to be very pragmatic.
Tuwharetoa Health Charitable Trust chair Ian Farquhar says they wanted to assess how effective their response was to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We have some very smart people in management positions. It turns out they made some really smart calls."
Providing a degree of normality for at risk families and the elderly was one outcome of the service, and Ian says through Tūwharetoa Health these people were able to stay connected during the lockdown.
"In Tūrangi, people depend on others dropping in," said Ian.
Chief executive officer Willow Salvador said there were many positives. Top of the list is the 211 people engaged through Whānau Ora Navigator where essentials like supermarket vouchers, firewood, and heating bills were paid for.
"Over 10 weeks we were able to provide support to whānau whose lives were interrupted by Covid-19, so they didn't go without food or heating for their home," said Willow.
Tūwharetoa Health CEO Willow Salvador says the staff went over and beyond what anyone would expect them to during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Working from home, staff were redeployed to make welfare calls to elderly people living in Tūrangi and Taupō. Willow says they wanted to make sure the elderly were okay, even those who were not on their books.
At the beginning of lockdown, the team had Whānau Packs containing hygiene items such as disposable gloves, cleaning cloths, hand sanitiser, soap, toilet paper, tissues and surface cleaner. Willow says altogether 5000 of these packs were distributed.
To assist the elderly and vulnerable, Tūwharetoa Health picked up scripts for medicine and groceries from the supermarket and then made home deliveries. The recipient paid for their items with a mobile eftpos machine, organised in less than two days before the country went into Covid-19 level four lockdown.
"In Tūrangi we had staff doing a weekly grocery/script run for eight regulars, but some weeks we were delivering for up to 25 people. In Taupō we did daily grocery/script run, with three or four regulars but sometimes up to 10 people per day," said Willow.
Tūwharetoa Health Charitable Trust superstars make a home delivery during Covid-19 lockdown, so the sick and elderly could stay home. Photo / Supplied
A mobile Covid-19 testing clinic was set up. Still in operation, the clinic moves to different locations in the Taupō District each week.
"At the end of lockdown we tested all the staff. After all they had been through we wanted to make sure they were safe," said Willow.
Willow says she is very proud of the staff at Tūwharetoa Health, and she is chuffed to call them her colleagues.
"During the lockdown, the staff went over and above what anyone would expect them to," said Willow.
