Health volunteers earn national awards kudos

Published date23 June 2022
The St John Kaikohe Health Shuttle won the overall Health Volunteer of the Year title in the Minister of Health Volunteer Awards announced at Parliament on Monday, while Taitokerau Border Control won the top award in the Maori Health Volunteer category

Health Minister Andrew Little said Kaikohe’s Health Shuttle volunteers made sure people in their community could get to medical appointments and vaccinations, even during lockdowns.

“The team has just two drivers, but has been able to provide the service five days a week, and is on call the other days. That’s real dedication to the community,” he said.

The service is managed by Betty Wihongi with Colin Patterson and Lee Maihi doing the driving. Two more drivers are due to start shortly.

It started in 2019 with a station wagon transporting Kaikohe people to appointments in Whangārei, Bay of Islands, Kaitaia and Rawene and back home again.

Demand is so high they now transport well over 1000 patients a year from all over Northland and they’ve upgraded to a five-seater, wheelchair-friendly van.

Wihongi said the health shuttle was her late sister Susan Dunn’s baby.

“She wanted to get something up and running for the community. When she passed I was thrown into the deep of it. I’ve just taken over from her.”

The award was “quite overwhelming”, she said.

“When I heard what all the other volunteers had done in I thought we’re nowhere near that calibre. But it just proves what a little community like Kaikohe can do.”

She was grateful to the St John Area Committee and the tireless Kaikohe St John op shop volunteers who raised the funds to keep the shuttle running.

Patients could give a koha if they wanted but they were never asked — and many couldn’t afford to anyway.

“We enjoy doing it, it’s who we are. It’s just about getting out there and giving a service to the community.”

Driver Colin Patterson said a lot of people wouldn’t be able to get to medical appointments — or wouldn’t even have appointments — if it wasn’t for the shuttle service. All the same, he was shocked when their names were read out.

“We just do it because we want to help people, we want to make a difference,” he said.

The judges said the health shuttle drivers went “above and beyond” to keep people safe during the pandemic, and went to great lengths to help no matter what a patient’s health status was. That meant they had to spend a lot of time keeping up with infection prevention protocols.

Meanwhile, winning the Outstanding Achievement Award in...

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