The Whanau Ora Community Clinic Flooded With Calls For Support

More than 2700 calls and requests for support have poured into the Whanau Ora Community Clinic help line and Auckland Emergency email address since the service was stood up on Friday night.

The was in response to Auckland going into a state of emergency last Friday due to the heavy rain which fell over a 24 hour period across Auckland.

Director George Ngatai says that more than 45 of his staff had been redeployed to all corners of Auckland and focussed on working in most of the Evacuation and Emergency Centres.

Speaking from the Mangere Civil Defence Centre at Te Moana Nui a Kiwa Mr Ngatai said that more than 1439 food packs had been distributed to Mangere, Randwick Park, Awataha Marae on the North Shore and out to West Auckland to assist whanau who had been affected by flooding. We are fortunate to have 24/7 access to the Circle K Supermarket which is how we have been able to get kai out to everyone and at a cheaper and quicker rate than others.

At the Mangere Emergency Centre over 350 medical assessments had been completed by Whanau Ora Community Clinic doctors, nurses and health care assistants and more than 450 whanau packs had been delivered to areas where whanau did not want to leave.

One issue we are seeing is that whanau are not wanting to leave some of their homes, most being rentals which have been affected by flood waters due to them not having insurance or frightened that if they do leave then who will keep their homes secure.

Some 15,000 insurance claims have been lodged following what the Government said is the biggest weather disaster in New Zealand to date.

Meanwhile many of our clinical and support staff have said to whanau that due to health and safety issues they needed to look at going to one of the evacuation areas like Kelston, Mangere or Manurewa Marae or possibly stay with whanau. So far, 174 of Auckland's flood-damaged homes have been red stickered (meaning uninhabitable) and 779 yellow stickered (restricted access). Most of the whanau we speak to don't understand what this means.

“We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland and Northland due to our service having medical centres in these areas, however it has stretched some of our teams.

It's been great to have been given some reprieve in the weather today however we will see the impact of the damage over the next 6-8 weeks when whanau have got to return if at all allowed to their homes said Mr Ngatai.

The Whanau Ora Community Clinic has been one of many providers who have worked 10-12 hours a day to assist the many whanau across Northland and Auckland.

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