This is the last of these columns for a while. I thought I’d use it to reflect on what my team and I have learned through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, we knew that the people who call this place home were tough but now we know how tough. Being completely physically-divorced from the outside world, they have endured some of the toughest lock-down anywhere in the country. Even under Level Two each of our Care Facility residents can have just one visitor for the duration.
Our hearts go out to them and to their loved ones. The instant we can properly open our Care Facility to the outside world we will do so. In the meantime, our residents continue to astound with their adoption of tech, like the 101 year-old who skypes daily with his wife “because I love her so much”.
Secondly, we’ve learned how blessed we are with our staff. These unsung heroes have also endured a tougher lock-down than most. Even now they must be super-vigilant and cautious, burdened with the knowledge that any slip-up could have devastating consequences for the people they pour their hearts and souls into caring for each day.
Thirdly, we now have a richer understanding of the support we enjoy from our community. From businesses like Putts Green Florist, Far North Milk, Kainui and Pub Grub who have been nurturing our people, to individuals like Arthur Beren who has been donating cases of fruit, to the personal shoppers for our Independent Living residents, to those who left treats for staff, to the messages of aroha in response to our social media posts. And the many other acts of kindness and mercy in between.
You may have noticed that we haven’t installed a gate. Just some orange road cones. And if I have any say, that’s how it will stay. This is not a gated community. Leaving aside temporary closures arising from global pandemics and localised infections, this is not a place where the people of Kerikeri will ever be stopped from coming to. Our place is your place. Quite literally. This community dreamed us. Then it built us. And now it sustains us.
So what now? The challenges that faced us before COVID-19 remain. The lack of aged-care beds in the Mid and Far North remains critical. The medical care and treatment facilities in the District remain woefully inadequate for our burgeoning population. A national strategy for modern, best-practice dementia care remains nothing but an aspiration. And our existing and soon-to-be elderly face a housing challenge like none before.
But if we can harness just some of the collective expertise, fortitude and willpower that a coronavirus has proved we have at our disposal nationally, we may be able to address most of these challenges satisfactorily. And if we don’t, we won’t. And that will be a crying shame.
