Day 78 - Nelson Mail - Good Samaritans come to woman’s aid after wheelchair accident

Good Samaritans come to woman’s aid after wheelchair accident

By: Catherine Hubbard

Nelson Mail: 05//06/2024

Lynne Thurlow was helped after an incident on her electric wheelchair. Thurlow wants to thank the two men who came to her aid for their “extraordinary kindness”.

MARTIN DE RUYTER / NELSON MAIL

Nelsonian Lynne Thurlow was on her way back home from a trip to the library when she had an accident on her electric wheelchair, just metres away from to her resthome residence.

The 74-year-old was knocked uncoscious when her wheelchair toppled onto the road and her head hit the pavement.

But Thurlow was lucky that two men saw the May 24 accident, and stopped what they were doing to come to her rescue.

The pair, who Thurlow thinks were in their sixties, pushed her and her heavy electric wheelchair upright, and called for an ambulance.

Thurlow was taken to hospital and discharged, but has on going problems with headaches and blurred vision. She currently can’t use her wheelchair as it leaves her feeling nauseous.

But she would love to thank the two unknown good Samaritans who came to her aid.

“I’m so grateful for them helping, for making sure I was safe,” she told Stuff.

Green Gables volunteer chaplain David Allpress said Lynne had told him that she knew that the men would have been busy.

“But as soon as they saw her, they weren’t too busy to stop and provide love and assistance,” he said.

Poor access for disabled people at new car park building

Lynne Birnie uses a wheelchair and says there is no exit button for disabled people to push and the doors are really heavy at the new Tū Waka-Waipapa car park.

Thurlow’s daughter, Dr Claire Thurlow, said it was “beautiful” people in the community didn’t hesitate to come to her aid.

However, the accident highlighted the challenges that people with disabilities had in getting around.

“So many footpaths are not well designed for wheelchairs,” Claire said.

“They’re often not wide enough, and that’s something KMum struggles with if bins are out.”

Her mother liked to visit the Queen’s Gardens, but getting across the bridge over the pond was a “juddery, horrible experience”, Claire said.

Given that New Zealand’s population was rapidly ageing, the problems those with disabilities had in navigating our streets was a timely issue, she said, ranging from car parking to getting in and out of vehicles, to accessing buildings.

Census 2023 data shows that West Coast and Tasman regions had the oldest median age in the country, at 48.1 years and 46.8 years respectively.

Disabled people make up a significant portion of New Zealanders, with 1.1 million people, or 24% of the population, identifying as disabled, according to the Ministry of Health.

- Nelson Mail

Last Updated 10/06/2024

RESOURCES

• Nelson City Council

• The Health of Disabled People Strategy (MOH)

• Provisional Health of Disabled People Strategy (MOH)

• Good Samaritans come to woman’s aid after wheelchair accident

Day 26 - Nelson Mail - 'At breaking point': disability community’s anger over cuts

'At breaking point': disability community’s anger over cuts

By Amy Ridout

Nelson Mail: 15 March 2024

“We’re tired of fighting”: That was the clear message from Nelson’s disability community at a public meeting to discuss disability funding cuts.

Almost 100 people, the majority women, met with Nelson Labour MP Rachel Boyack and Labour’s disability spokesperson Priyanca Radhakrishnan at Greenmeadows Pūtangitangi Centre on Monday afternoon.

Previously, Whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled People funding gave families a two-year budget set by the ministry to help disabled people live full lives. Their whānau could spend that money on equipment, such as wheelchairs, or on respite care.

Without warning on March 18, the ministry announced immediate changes to its purchasing rules "to clarify how people can use their disability support funding”. The ministry said the changes were due to financial pressures on Government departments.

Boyack said she’d been contacted by Nelson residents who were “upset, angry, frustrated and confused”.

Radhakrishnan, the former Minister for Disability Issues under Labour, said she had fielded around 200 “devastated” messages from disabled people and their carers, worried about meeting costs for respite care, travel and insulin pumps.

“People are tired of fighting for every little aspect of support, they feel they’re now at breaking point,” she said.

One woman, visiting Nelson from Palmerston North with her son, said the funding had meant her whānau had started to “taste freedom from oppression”.

“We will not fit back in that box; we can’t go back,” she said. “Every single rule takes us further and further away... taking us back towards institutionalisation.”

She suggested parents of children with disabilities take their children to parliament.

“Give them a taste of what day-to-day is like.”

One mother of a teen said she’d discovered the news on Facebook.

“There was no formal letter to say your carer support is changing ... There must be families out there who have no idea this has happened.”

Radhakrishnan’s suggestion of writing to your MP to protest the change was met with opposition from one parent.

“We’re tired of fighting,” she said. “We have been fighting all our lives, every step of the way, it’s not fair.”

The threat hanging over Maitai School was also raised by Boyack and several parents. On April 4, the government announced plans to build a new base for the special educational facility were in doubt, which would leave a quarter of the school’s students with nowhere to go next year.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said one parent, whose son had flourished at the school.

- Nelson Mail

Last Updated 15/04/2024

RESOURCES

• Maitai School