Terry Tolhopf, Social Worker - Case Manager,
Voyagers.
I observed the coming together of a community /village/rohe;
sharing resources and shoulders to cry on, friends, family and
whānau to hug and shake hands. People sharing their stories of
the grief and loss, how lucky some were and were not. Local and
countrywide services coming together. People leaving their paid
jobs to help others in their time of need.
Voyagers staff were there at the halls at the Marae to walk
alongside anyone, old and young, to listen to the stories. We were
available on the day, and will be available tomorrow and the hard
months ahead to navigate support and most of all listen.
Community Mental Health, Whakatāne
Kim Hansen, Clinical Team Leader.
The flooding that the Eastern Bay experienced in April, has for the
most part been a roller coaster of events for the people that were
directly affected and their loved ones. This disaster called for an
immediate response from emergency and social services alike.
The team from Community Mental Health, Whakatāne provided
counselling, a neutral ear for people to tell their stories, comfort,
support with practical issues, and help feed those affected. I am
immensely proud to be part of a team of health care professionals,
who will instantly, and without question, support their community.
The team did this whilst maintaining their own ‘day to day work’,
and lives, and some staff were directly affected themselves. I
thank each and every one of you.
Saturday 8 April – three days
after the Edgecumbe flood
Siobhan Wilson, Occupational Therapist,
Community Mental Health, Whakatāne.
I volunteered to go to the welfare centre set up at Awakeri, as this
is the community that I grew up in. Awakeri School was the centre
where people evacuated from their homes came to register to gain
access to their houses.
Conflicting information about access, people’s desperation to see
their houses or gain access for urgent medical supplies and to
check on animals were all stories that I heard that first day.
One tiny elderly lady shared with me that she and her ‘rebel’
grandson had managed to get past the cordons to get to her
house to feed her animals that were stuck inside. A couple told me
they had gained access to their house with a list of most important
things to get and as they were leaving they left behind the bag
of medication which was on the top of the list. This showed me
the stress that people were under when allowed back in to their
houses for the first time.
In the following days we established relationships with other
services in the centres. I was privileged enough to work with the
Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), escorting people back to view
their houses most badly affected opposite the riverbank breach
on College Road. Most people had seen their houses from drone
footage, but to see the damage to these houses from ground
level is a sight that will not leave me for a long time. Houses were
shifted from their piles, foundations were eroded, parts of the road
were in people’s yards and one house sat at an angle that defied
gravity. The shear force and destruction from the water left me
speechless. The families and neighbours shed a few tears, they
showed resilience and support to one another and were grateful
for the access to see their houses with their own eyes.
The weeks following the floods were tiring emotionally and
physically. We had another weather event over Easter that created
a new set of anxieties for the communities and was another
traumatic event too close to the previous week for some people.
This is the first time that I’ve been part of a Mental Health
response team to a disaster. We do things outside our usual
roles when faced with these situations. I have learnt that people
respond to disasters and losses in all sorts of ways and at different
times and that people and communities are incredibly resilient.
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