Ashburton Courier: July 11, 2024

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Midwifery training
available locally
Upand down thecountry,women are
having babies. Whichmeans midwives are
needed throughout Aotearoa.Not just in cities
andtowns,but in ruraland remote locations
too.
Andneededtheydefinitely are. Currently,
NewZealand has achronic shortageof
trainedmidwives. Health NewZealand Te
Whatu Ora alonehas over 300 vacancies for
midwives.
AraInstitute of Canterburyis playing
itspartinhelping meet thedemandfor
midwives. ItsBachelor of Midwiferyis
accessibletostudents acrossawide swatheof
theSouth Island includingSouth Canterbury,
the West Coastand theNelson and
Marlborough regions.
Aramidwifery students –wherever
they’rebased –learn via a
blendeddeliverymethod
whichincludes online
learningmodules,realtime
tutorials, clinical
placements andface-toface
lectures andtutorials.
“Itallowsstudents
in regional andrural
locationstocompletethe
programmewithout having
to move their familytoa
city,” says Aramidwifery
tutorMelanie Welfare.
Sheaddsthatthis
satellitemethod–which
links students with locally
basedtutors, midwives
andhospital staff -ishelping to buildastable
workforceofhome-grown midwives.
After talkingtomidwiveswho’d studiedat
Ara, Candice Milner also didher midwifery
trainingatAra.“Theyraved aboutthe degree.
Theyspoke of thewidescope of learning–be
it creative,communicative,aural, visual or
practicalexperience. AcommonthingIheard
was that younever come outthe otherside
the same person andI’d certainly agree.”
Candice,who worksfor Rata Midwives in
Christchurch,would like to seemorepeople
getintomidwiferyandencouragesanyone
who’sconsideringthe Aradegreeto“just do
it -divein”.
Applications to startAra’s Bachelorof
Midwiferyin2025 closeon1September.
Furtherinformation is availableatara.ac.nz.
Every day impact
This month, we’ll continue
feelingthe impact of National’s
choice to make everyday life
harder for New Zealanders.
In Mid Canterbury, I’m
particularly concerned about
people being unable to afford
medications, with the $5
prescription charge returning
for some people from July 1. We
have heard from people having
to choose between medications,
as they can’t afford everything
they’ve been prescribed –a
choice nobody should be forced
to make.
Research has shown that this
could increase people admitted
to hospitals, with doctors seeing
more people come into A&E
after not being able to afford
treatments like antibiotics,
asthma medication or pain
relief. We should be doing
everything we can to make sure
our health system is running
smoothly and wait times are kept
down. Instead, National has
chosen to bring back
prescription charges, repeal our
anti­smoking laws and cut
administration roles, leaving
stretched doctors and nurses to
pick up more paperwork.
Meanwhile, unemployment,
LETTER TO EDITOR
Slam Dunk to the ADC !! Can you
trust the CEO? Hamish Riach
agreed FIVETIMES (I have all
the emails) to installing
recording equipment to record
the barking dog in McDonald St.
His last email on February 13
stated “I regard taking your idea
and setting up our own recording
device as demonstration of
working with you to fairly assess
the situation.”Sowhy has he
suddenly done a180 degree
turn??? There are alot of angry
people in the district. His final
correspondence with the
Ombudsman states ­“The
Ashburton District Council does
not think installing unattended
noise monitoring equipment at
my address would be
appropriate in this case.” Not a
man of his word then!!
Christine Sanderson
Ashburton
Chief executive Hamish Riach
responds:
Your correspondent is correct
in that we did regard the
recording device as potentially
rates and rents are predicted to
rise, and the government has no
plan to ease the cost­of­living
pressure for families. Instead,
National has cut thousands of
jobs in important sectors,
including people working to stop
child exploitation, improve
biosecurity, keep our healthcare
system running, and restore the
habitats of native and
endangered species.
Among those who have lost
jobs are families with kids to
feed and experts with nowhere
to turn but abroad. Cutting
thousands of jobs while spending
billions of dollars on atax break
for landlords, charter schools,
and more prison beds is shortsighted
and will leave
communities worse off.
National is making life harder
for those in work too. The recent
minimum wage increase was half
what officials advised, and the
minimum wage top­up has been
scrapped for hundreds of
disabled workers, meaning some
could be paid as low as $2 per
hour. In government, Labour was
working to end the minimum
wage exemption for people with
disabilities, ensuring all workers
could keep their jobs, work with
dignity, and be paid fairly for
their time and effort. Rather
than supporting things our
communities need and deserve –
like healthcare, prescriptions,
housing, healthy school lunches,
secure work, and affordable
public transport ­National have
chosen to make life harder for
Mid Canterbury.
useful, and we proceeded to
borrow adevice from a
neighbouring council to do just
that. The device, however, needs
to be on the property where the
dog is for it to provide categoric
independent evidence about the
specific dog. Unfortunately, the
owner of the property where the
dog resides did not grant council
permission to temporarily install
the device, and we have no
authority to do it without
permission. So yes, apotentially
good idea, but not one we could
ultimately follow through on.
Please also note that we have
responded to many, many
complaints about dog barking
from your correspondent, and
our staff and contractors have
visited over 75 times at all times
of the day and night in response
to those complaints. At no time
have those visits shown the dog
to be barking or howling.
Further, council have to date
received no complaints from any
other neighbour attributable to
the specific dog.
CARTOON OF THE WEEK