Reassurance, care and calm much appreciated
I have just spent six days in Dunedin Hospital Ward B cardiovascular unit where again I received amazing treatment. I write this letter not only to thank all the staff involved in my wellbeing and recovery but to praise them for the tremendous care they gave me, especially at perhaps one of the busiest times of the year when everyone is flat out before Christmas. The future of this hospital is all bad news but certainly doesn’t show up with the way the staff go about their work around the wards in what is now an old building, and I am sure they will all be looking forward to moving into a new, modern hospital to cater for the biggest health area in New Zealand including the quickest-growing population in the country — Central Otago and the lake district.
l live in Cromwell with my wife in the Golden View Lifestyle Village and have spent many years in Central Otago. I have seen huge changes and the population is growing rapidly, therefore we must not skimp on any form whatsoever when building this new hospital.
Financially it won’t be easy but nothing ever is so we have just got to bite the bullet, tighten our belts, borrow the money and get on with it.
I remember when I was younger we talked about cutting the cable between the North and South Island. Maybe it would be a possibility! We certainly have all the assets and we are discovering more gold.
Festive greetings to all the wonderful health staff and volunteers throughout Otago and Southland. Without exception you all give a professional service that matches anything in the world, often under difficult conditions.
Bill Townsend
Cromwell
My husband recently attended the Dunedin Hospital emergency department.
When checking in with the triage nurse, she advised that there would be a long wait as there had been a significant accident. This was the bus crash at Kingston. The waiting room and adjoining areas were full of patients.
The lovely triage nurse apologised to us all several times. The staff continued to attend to patients, e.g. putting cannulas in, taking temperatures, blood pressures etc and attending to anything urgent.
This was sometimes done in the waiting room alongside other patients.
Later another lovely nurse attended to us in the corridor within close proximity to seven other patients (and their relations). While she tended to my husband, one patient was quite obnoxious and complaining, another patient was upset and crying. The nurse spoke to all these people plus another patient within a few minutes with reassurance, care, and remaining calm.
Amazing. Eventually, after 8 and a-half hours, my husband got a bed and was attended to by more brilliant, caring staff.
Thank you to all the staff at the emergency department. You were great.
Eleanor Towns
Mosgiel
Hypocrites around
When members of Parliament complain about rates rises, they are being hypocritical. Rates are subject to GST therefore the higher the rates, the more money goes into government coffers.
We are frequently told that a new hospital cannot be afforded on present costs. Yet ratepayers are compelled to send more money to government funds. The present government wants literacy rates to improve, yet dismisses libraries as ‘‘nice to have’’ rather than essential support to better literacy rates. In a country with an unfortunately high rate of drownings, swimming pools where water safety can be taught are not ‘‘nice to have’’ either. When expenditure on roads is considered more important than social housing, then we are abandoning thousands to a miserable existence, poor nutrition and ill health.
Happy New Year means nothing to them, because they cannot see any prospect of 2025 being better than 2024.
Lynne Hill
Mosgiel
Decision to stay away applauded
Waitangi National Trust chairman Pita Tipene stated that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s decision not to attend Waitangi on February 6 is disappointing. (ODT, 19.12.24). Opposition party leaders and others have been less gracious in their feedback on the prime minister’s decision and their use of immature and inflammatory rhetoric has once again been on full display. Comments directed at the prime minister like ‘‘coward’’ and ‘‘gutless’’ are simply a precursor of the intimidation and aggressive behaviour that Mr Luxon would face at Waitangi. A Luxon visit to Waitangi would be like ‘‘walking into a lion’s den’’ and the likes of Hipkins, Swarbrick and the co-leaders of Te Pati Maori are salivating at the very thought of the prime minister being heckled and harassed on the Waitangi Treaty grounds in front of the nation’s media and hence their frustration at his no-show. The not-so-hidden agenda is in plain sight and the prime minister’s decision to stay away at this time will have the overwhelming support of New Zealanders and should be applauded.
Bruce Eliott
Arrowtown
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
