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Daffodil Day 2018

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Daffodil Day 2018 display by Sarah Morris in the waiting room.

Friday 31st August is Daffodil Day and to promote this our artist in residence, Sarah Morris, has designed another of her lovely displays that brighten our waiting room. Daffodil Day raises funds to support Cancer research. As a practice we are continually dealing with issues relating to cancer in it’s various forms and there can be few New Zealanders that have not been touched by cancer whether directly or indirectly.

If you would like to support Daffodil Day you can make a donation via the  Daffodil Day website or purchase a daffodil with a donation on the day.

Bike Month 2018

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Christine Yeoman and Tracy Wilson cycling to work on Go By Bike Day

February is Bike Month and Sport Bay of Plenty has a program of events encouraging people to get out and on their bikes for pleasure and exercise. One of these events was Go by Bike day on Valentine’s Day and Christine Yeoman and Tracy Wilson took up the challenge to cycle to work. In all fairness they don’t need any encouragement and along with Margaret Paul, regularly cycle to work, setting a great example in environmentally friendly transport.

Summer holidays 2017-18

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Sarah with the artistic display she has created for Christmas

Sarah with the artistic display she has created for the notice board in the waiting room

We would like to wish all our patients a safe and happy Christmas and New Year over the summer holidays. Our resident artist, Sarah Morris, has created a lovely seasonal display in the waiting room. This has a reminder about our hours over the holidays. Basically we are open normal hours except for the stat holidays.

Closed Saturday 23 – Tuesday 26 December,

Open as usual Wednesday 27, Thursday 28 and Friday 29 December,

Closed Saturday 30 December – Tuesday 2 January,

Open as usual Wednesday 3, Thursday 4  and Friday 5 January

When we are closed the usual nurse triage service is available by phone and the usual GP afterhours clinics are availabe at Whakatane Hospital.

A reminder to make sure that you have enough of your regular prescription medications prior to the holidays. Repeats can be requested via our email prescription request.

We have had an early start to summer with the good sunny, dry weather which has been great for the beach but is a reminder to be careful in the sun. Try and avoid the sun and seek shade, use long sleeved sun protective clothing, a wide brimmed hat and plenty of sunscreen. See the Sunsmart website for more info on the usual Slip, Slop, Slap and Slide advice. The sun protection alert above shows the hours that sun protection is advised for our region of the North Island and updates daily.

Winter illnesses

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The winter season is well and truly upon us with this cold snap and the past few weeks has seen a real run of colds and the first real cases of influenza for the year. Remember that most winter illnesses are caused by viruses and don’t benefit from, nor respond to, antibiotic treatment. Unnecessary use of antibiotics enables bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance so it is unwise to take an antibiotic “left over” from a previous course prescribed for you or someone else. The old fashioned advice of using Paracetamol to help fevers, aches and pains, along with some rest and plenty of fluids remains valid today. Lozenges, gargles and lemon drinks can all help soothe the symptoms while your immune system overcomes the infection. Covering your face when coughing or sneezing, using disposable tissues and washing hands can help limit the spread of infection. Morning walk-in clinics for our enrolled patients are running at full capacity so there can be a bit of a wait. Influenza is vaccine preventable and it’s not too late to have the vaccine which is free to over 65s and others with certain conditions.

This page from the NHS on Winter Illnesses has some interesting facts

Edgecumbe Floods

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Flooding on SH2 west of Pukehina which, if any worse, would have further isolated the Eastern Bay

This has been a challenging week for the Eastern Bay of Plenty, most especially the residents of Edgecumbe and surrounds directly affected by the flooding. This includes 3 of our staff members, who despite the uncertainty of their personal situations, have continued to give of their best for our patients, Edgecumbe patients and even Kawerau Medical Centre patients who turned up at Tarawera Medial Centre on Thursday afternoon reporting finding their practice closed and abandoned. We have liased closely with the Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance to support the staff of the Edgecumbe practice and offered use of our rooms if required. Road closures have made it difficult for staff commuting from Papamoa and Rotorua but despite this we have remained fully staffed and operational in line with our long standing committment to the community. Here’s hoping for a warm dry spell so that our staff and the rest of the Edgecumbe evacuees can get back to their homes and lives.

Braemar Road fortunatley remained open despite a lot of mud.

SH30 reopened on Friday after being closed for 2 days due to this big slip near Hauparu Bay.