In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, nurses in Wairoa were on their own with those working at the hospital having lost all connection with the outside world.
Nurse lead Dione Neri says it was early in the morning when the impact of the cyclone was felt in the town, as the river burst its banks, flooding roads and houses in its path. The hospital is on an elevated site and its generator kicked in when the power went down.
“We had no cell phone coverage, no server, no connection with Hawkes Bay, no connection with anybody. We were just on our own,” she said. “We were business as usual and just got on with it.”
Located on the hospital campus is the Queen Street general practice. Its Nurse Director Marion Terry says the team swung into action.
“Patients didn’t ring, couldn’t ring, so they just presented at the practice. They had a system to triage those coming in. Surprisingly the numbers were quite low and just dropped right back, almost like people were in shock.”
Fortunately, the practice’s server was still operational so, with Te Whatu Ora’s agreement, they were able to share data with the hospital’s acute ward and assist doctors and nurses in looking after their patients.
Marion and Dione say the flooding was a shock as it happened so quickly but that did not prevent them from getting on with what had to be done.
“We’re there to provide a frontline health service,” says Marion. “That doesn’t change in a cyclone or a flood or whatever. We continued to provide services and we stepped up visits to the evacuation sites.”
One Wairoa nurse’s family home was hit by the flooding and her colleagues leapt into action.
“Her family home was totally awash so our nurses went there and cleaned it out. They went there for a few days and scrubbed her house out, ripped everything out, and cleaned it until it was finished,” says Marion.
Dione says the community, which will shortly be reconnected with Hawkes Bay, is still hurting.
“We’re a pretty low socio-economic community so it’s the access to everything, the affordability to everything that’s the problem.”
In the face of such challenges, both nurses take a pragmatic approach, roll up their sleeves, and get on with the job.
Nēhi kei te manawa o te tiaki hauora – nurses at the heart of healthcare.
