WE REALLY NEED to start looking at better facilitating our rural communities with proper physiotherapy and rehabilitation equipment.
Earlier this week a woman wrote a letter to the editor of The Northland Age outlining the importance for her Te Hiku Ward to build a hydrotherapy pool in their community since her closest one wasn’t very close at all and the waiting list was months long.
She also mentioned how a number of people in her community have had to move to the bigger cities of Whangerei and Auckland in order to have easier access to more healthcare and wellness facilities.
I have to say that when I first read this, I felt a bit ashamed.
Living in my yuppie Auckland bubble where such facilities are at my fingertips, I’m unfortunately unaware of what it must be like to not have access to vital physical therapy equipment such as this.
Any health professional would tell you how beneficial hydrotherapy is for someone with a mobility issue or stroke victims.
Therefore, considering the necessity of this facility, having to move away from your community to have access to a wider variety of healthcare facilities would be one of the most disheartening decisions a person would ever have to make.
If this is the case in her specific community, there will definitely be other areas across the country where people who are stuck in this awful position have to make a similar decision.
The aim of Mrs Harold’s letter was to highlight the importance of having a hydrotherapy pool in the proposed Te Hiku Sports Hub’s Aquatic Centre.
I sincerely hope they, as well as other wards across the country, take her advice and build one.
This is not just for her sake but also for the sake of future generations who will rely heavily on facilities such as this for their health and wellbeing.
No one should have to leave his or her hometowns and communities in order to receive adequate healthcare.
Agree.
Any community facility designed should be designed with access and use for all members. Extra design and implementation costs, if any – will reduce as designers and builders gain more experience and knowledge.
No doubt this government will repeat the mantra “there is no money available”.
Well, there is. But it’s given to Rio Tinto, to pass on to their shareholders.
And we used to have the money, before successive governments frittered it away on seven tax cuts since 1986.
Money for public services like this must be made available, or else New Zealanders will get the society they deserve.
In their worldview, other than farmers, and rich people on their estates, only losers and poorer people live in the country (and farmers are only just tolerated), so why should they consider them…..
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