Organisations from across the Bay of Plenty have come together to appraise the local COVID response and to plan for future outbreaks.

39 organisations registered for the ‘Past, Present, Future’ event organised by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) and held at Te Puke’s Orchard Church on Thursday (29 October).

The buy-in from all those present was clear and evident said BOPDHB Acting Medical Officer and COVID-19 Executive Lead Dr Joe Bourne.

“It was amazing to see how far the relationships have developed between all those present and that is great news for the Bay of Plenty in general,” said Dr Bourne. “The level of enduring trust and commitment to the cause was plain for all to see and that stands us in great stead for, not only any future challenges with regard to COVID, but any other challenges which might present themselves to us as a health system.”

BOPDHB Chief Executive Officer Pete Chandler said it “was a time for people to come together to share, reflect and celebrate the amazing collective effort as we navigated our way through the challenges that COVID has brought to us in 2020”.

Over 100 people came together for the four-hour long event to acknowledge the COVID response work undertaken to date and the impact it has had on the health system and Bay of Plenty community in general. The current state-of-play was also discussed before a session on future scenario planning. This session was designed to plan coordinated responses should small, medium or even major outbreaks occur at some stage in the future.

BOPDHB Service Improvement Programme Manager Helen De Vere, who helped organise the event, said she had had a lot of positive feedback.

“It’s the first time we’ve really run an event like this and it was really well received. It was a great way for people to connect, acknowledge the mahi that had been undertaken to this point, and to continue building relationships for the ongoing fight against COVID. We connected with a lot of organisations during the COVID lockdown and this was a great way to reinforce those connections.

“That connectedness ran through the future scenario planning and that exercise especially really helped sharpen the focus for organisations individually, and us collectively, around elements of our local resurgence planning.”

The event participants covered 39 organisations large and small from across the Bay of Plenty including: Iwi, Māori health providers, local councils, the three regional primary health organisations/alliances, Lakes DHB, community health providers and health charities, public health services, hospice providers and pharmacy representatives.

© Scoop Media