Take a Breath of Fresh Air This May
Quitting smoking can be a
difficult process but things
like creating a smokefree
car and home are a great
step in the right direction.
“Creating a smokefree car
and home helps protect family
and visitors from secondhand smoke,” says Bay of
Plenty District Health Board
(BOPDHB) Smoking Cessation
Co-ordinator Wendy Tustin-Payne,
who is helping promote World
Smokefree on Tuesday 31 May.
“More than 350 New
Zealanders die from secondhand smoke each year, and the
dangers of smoking remain long
after the cigarette has been
extinguished.”
The dangers of second-hand
smoke are well known and recent
research is bringing to light the
dangers of third-hand smoke.
This occurs from ash and smoke
that settles on the surface of
furniture, carpet and car interiors
which can be ingested or inhaled,
even long after smoking has
stopped.
“Children in particular are
vulnerable to the effects of
cigarette smoke, and often don’t
have a choice to move away,”
says Wendy. “Not smoking
around children also sets a
good example, as research
indicates children with parents
who do smoke are three times
more likely to take up smoking
themselves.”
This May, why not make your
home and car smokefree, and
encourage others to do. Ask
friends and whānau to support
you by not smoking in your car
and home, put up ‘no smoking’
stickers, and be a positive role
model by not smoking around
children.
If you are thinking about
quitting smoking, or want some
advice on creating smokefree
environments contact Quitline
on 0800 778 778. They provide
free quit smoking counselling,
nicotine replacement therapy
and information about cessation
medication, and can help you link
up with local support services.
Free smokefree stickers and
resources can be ordered online
via the Health Promotion Agency
website www.hpa.org.nz
Clarity over Care Decisions Reduces
Stress of Mum’s Final Days
“It feels good to know we got it
right for mum,” says Rangitawhai
Rahiri.
Rangitawhai’s mother Rauhina Moke
died less than four weeks ago, aged just
63. Her diagnosis of terminal cancer, in
June 2015, rocked her family but one
simple document, a Future Care Plan,
helped bring clarity and reduce some of
the stress of her last days.
Rangitawhai Rahiri has encouraged other family
members to complete a Future Care Plan.
Rangitawhai has now spread the word
about Future Care Plans to several other
members of her extended family.
“She obviously didn’t have any control
over the cancer so this (a Future Care
Plan) at least gave her a sense of control
over what was going to happen at the
end. She was very excited about that.
“Families need to discuss this, because
if you don’t, when the time comes and
someone gets sick, you run around like
headless chickens and can make bad
decisions.
“She would whip out her care plan to
everyone who came in our house, get
them to take a look and read it. Pretty
much everyone who would listen got to
hear about it.”
“Sometimes when it’s left to one person
to decide everything that’s what can split
families because disagreements arise.
Here there’s no argument
because it’s there in
black and white.”
Rangitawhai says for her family, having
Rauhina’s wishes written down by her,
took away a lot of pressure and helped
them cope better with the fact they were
losing her.
“It made things heaps easier for her care,
and after she passed as well. It saves
having to think about these things when
you don’t feel like thinking about them.
any loaned hospital
equipment to Tauranga
Hospital’s main reception.
“Everything was coming from her. Right
down to her funeral, it was all in her care
plan and she would keep scribbling things
on it. At her tangi I was walking around
with it in my handbag in case I had to
whip it out and clear anything up.”
“If you knew my mum you would know
that she liked to be in control of things,”
laughs Rangitawhai from Te Puke.
A Future Care Plan is a document which
gives people the opportunity to write
down their wishes for their healthcare.
This includes things such as: people you
would like involved in decision-making,
your spiritual or cultural needs, even
simple preferences such as a fondness
for spicy food or bright rooms for example.
Rauhina Moke, who passed away
on 21st March, was a passionate
advocate of Future Care Plans.
“There are lots of things we don’t
discuss, especially to do with sickness,
there’s a lot kept secret. But going
through this process has definitely made
our family closer.
PLEASE
RETURN
For more information
on future/advance care
planning go to www.
advancecareplanning.org.
nz
To download a Future
Care Plan go to the
BOPDHB website
www.bopdhb.govt.nz/
media/58138/my-futurecare-plan-paua.pdf
Free hard copies of
the Future Care Plan are
available at the receptions
of both Tauranga and
Whakatane Hospitals.
Thank you.