In March Candice and Tui visited some hospitals our nurses frequently work in. Their trip included 9 flights and 1500kms of driving in a rental car! Keep reading for an insight in to Tui's experience.
Coober Pedy in Central South Australia (see pic below) was quite something to experience with the underground living and the 1,500,000 metre-wide holes around the town, drilled for finding opals. The hospital itself is above ground, well-resourced and well-run. It was more than hot enough for Candice and I, yet not as hot as it does get!
In Kalgoorlie Boulder, Western Australia, the hospital sprawls, the streets are wide and we saw evidence of an earthquake where propped up building frontages made Candice and I feel at home! From Kalgoorlie (see pic of the super pit there), we drove to Norseman, Esperance (see pic of Kangaroos on the beach) and Ravensthorpe to meet hospital staff and even some of our nurses at each place.
It was great for Candice and I to have this first-hand look at the hospitals and the nursing accommodation at each. This will help us to provide more solid information to RNs embarking on their first trips to these places.
The team at AUSSTAT/KiwisSTAT would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and if you are taking a break over the holiday we hope you enjoy your time off – and don't induldge in too many easter treats!
For those of you away on locums, please be assured your patients greatly appreciate it.
Late last year AUSSTAT/KiwisSTAT was pleased to be able to offer assistance to Habitat for Humanity who are helping to build new homes for families affected by the devastating Christchurch earthquakes. Over $8,000 was raised towards families being offered new homes in a sub-division in Kaiapoi, just outside the city.
The picture above is of the Evans Family in front on their partially built new home. The entire family participated in the build.
Hands of Hope are a Christian charity founded by husband and wife team, Duane Newport and Jenny Westgate. Jenny is a well-known New Zealand obstetrician and gynaecologist and locums for KiwisSTAT. They sent us an update on what they have been up to at the end of 2011.
The last 6 months of 2011 were very busy for us; our building was completed and became the focus for many community activities. We were invited to start a church in the neighbouring village. The local teenagers decided they wanted a youth group so started to come along on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They can ‘hang out’, learn guitar, play table tennis and board games, listen to music and practice dances. We also had a number of visitors from New Zealand and other countries; they helped us provide a number of community wide events.
In August a team from New Plymouth visited and gave talks on different aspects of healthcare. These talks included dental hygiene, the importance of hand washing and germs as well as advice on parenting, including the role of the father.
In September we had on optician visit offering free eye examinations and reduced prices on glasses, November saw a health education day with a session on Violence against Women and Children as well as talks about intestinal worms.
December was a delight with Christmas activities, games and food as well as 400+ gifts for children, and food hampers and clothing packs for 250 families.
2012 promises to be even busier than last year.
Check out our website for more details.
Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch and Canterbury as we mark one year since the devastating earthquake of 22nd February 2011, especially those who lost family, friends and colleagues.
We hope you have been able to find some peace today as we remember the events of that day and as we look towards building a better, brighter future in our great city and province.
The AUSSTAT/KiwisSTAT team.
