He'd be in a spot of bother.

However, after Christchurch, Civil Defence did get together with the necessary groups to formulate a disability specific 'disaster preparedness' plan.

Much of it is about planning and networking, but also about building resilience and self sufficiency. (I…

__Moran was unharmed but shaken by the 7.8 magnitude November 14 earthquake, which struck just after midnight and felt strongly in the upper South and lower North Islands.

"It was pretty scary. It is really scary when you can't get out of bed and the power…

Of course, it’s cheaper still to just let people die.

Angela Hart is, sadly, correct.

I suspect that there is, actually, deep in the bowels of the Ministry of Health operating policy, a redacted section that does say "no heroic measures" for 'consumers' who need "x" level…

Follow up to this...
Taupo-woman-Fai-Deane-dies-after-crash-cuts-Unison-Networks-power-to-ventilator

A 21-year-old Rotorua man will appear in Taupo District Court on Wednesday charged with being a criminal nuisance in relation to the outage that stopped Fai Deane's ventilator working.

Had this lady's ventilator had a battery back-up....

In 2007, Mangere woman Folole Muliaga died the same day a contractor to Mercury Energy cut the power to her home. A coroner later found the 45-year-old, who was using an oxygen machine, died as a result of morbid obesity, but also that the…

No, it is the solution recommended by the Coroner in 2012.

http://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/coroners-court/publications/recommendations-recap/recommendations-recap-issue-3

No need to read it all,

The coroner adopted the recommendation in the Summary
of the Southern District Health Board event review summary.
**He recommended that the availability of non-invasive ventilation machines,…

Fisher and Paykel have a kit...http://www.cpapbatteries.nz/index.php/fisher-paykel-c400.html

would this work with the machine in your home?

$600 is small change for a life, and priceless for piece of mind....methinks this would be the kind of equipment expense that would be justified…

The disabled need to have meaningful and productive lives within their capability, and a little extra capacity built in for discretionary decisions around what they would like to do. Those of us…

Curioser and curioser!

However, Tom, just got your email and all sorted! Thanks.

Car battery, battery charger and a simple sine-wave inverter. All available from a reputable motor accessory shop near you, or even Repco ;-)
Connect the whole caboodle together, plug in the charger…

Tom, the very sad reality is that the 'system' is designed to create confusion and insecurity.

Under the Public Health and Disability Act, and according…

I admire your efforts, and I do understand your frustration....but could you please remove my details from your contacts list?

When I receive an unsolicited email with a list of other recipients that takes up half a page...I am tempted to treat it a spam and report it…

and they really don’t grok that

The irony as we've discussed is that they spend more money saying no than if they just got on with it and said yes.

Just like the NASC system (which was pleased to take away our useless carer support days yesterday) except that

indication of what you’re entitled to

you have no entitlement with MOH,…

ACC has obviously been taking lessons from the Miserly of Health.

My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that there is a very grey area under ACC when it comes to funding…

Gordon Palmer sold his business to help his wife, as looking after Luke alongside two other young children became full-time work for two people. But the ACC only paid them attendant care for 35 hours a week.

"We ran his rehabilitation from home. It meant that…

Ahem....

according to this....https://www.health.govt.nz/.../hcss-implementation-guide-mar09.pdf

Needs assessment and service co-ordination will be conducted with the person in an environment comfortable to them. The NASC will:

• provide information about the NASC service and work to ensure people, providers, GPs, other community groups and potential referrers…

Residential care is appropriate for Peter like execution is appropriate punishment for farting in public.

See! Scary.

or beg a passing seagull

We will not beg.

(but you could pay a seagull, bread maybe?)

A diamond dealer?

WTFF?

We’re a scary lot

I can see that. That hand moving towards the button!

Questions Need To Be Asked.

Something like Steal Magnolia, maybe Access Denied? Russell?

yup, if you can't be seen, you probably don't get in. Secure access, even for the stairwell. We're a scary lot, must be.

Hang on a minute….is that a camera I spy in your pic? On the intercom panel?

Please tell me it isn’t so…

Sadly, yes.

The very last thing the NASCs want is for actual disabled people to turn up at the office.

Goodness gracious me...we can't have that.

The NASC in Hamilton, Disability Support Link is...

Upstairs? Yes
Small lift? Yes
Mobility Parking? **one…

We had a meeting at Taikura Trust's (our NASC) premises today, and blow me down THEY…

The Miserly of Health.

I'd actually like to see that in print on an MOH document. The "legally obligated" bit.

Because...although one might be…

Unbelievable!

A lovely person who…

I had no idea Tariana had a tetraplegic brother, it explains a lot, you really can't appreciate people’s experiences of disability unless you get to know them well

“For too long, the disability community in particular have been denied…

Well done Genesis...I am hoping this means…

We have a panel type heat exchanger on the roof. We didn't need to move the cylinder and the pump is small and silent. Since we installed it several years ago there has…

Good on ya Rosemary!

Sometimes. For us in Sydney it's cheaper and easier to buy extra PV than go to the hassle and expense of either a heat pump system or "simple" heat exchanger. The problem with…

So I gave the 0800 number a ring and passed on the concerns discussed in this thread.

The usual suggestions....all of which would attract a cost to the consumer...

My suggestion was that the power company keep a…

The power converted by a hot water element is proportional to the square of the actual input voltage -…

That particular reason won’t be used to decline again. But the Ministry’s strategy was successful in delaying an informative response.

The information ultimately provided was quite limited because almost every NASC claimed not to know total hours of support…

on that note you may be interested to have a look at case note reference 380335 here http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources-and-publications/case-notes/official-information-case-notes

which gives the Ombudsman's take on a particularly dubious reason for withholding information

As part of…

I went to a fascinating talk last week in Lower Hutt (run by Cafe Scientifique) which was all about solar/wind…

Yep, that's a good solution for you. But it doesn't really generalise except in the…

Whole different question :)

That is really a "who pays" question, in Australia for a while the upfront payment for renewable energy certificates was…

I was thinking that where there’s a fault requiring the linesman to have power turned off to a street or two, that if he was expected to check a readily available (to him) database for medically vulnerable customers, that would offer some safety options. He could phone the…

https://www.ea.govt.nz/operations/retail/retailers/retailer-obligations/medically-dependant-and-vulnerable-customers/

AND....Guidelines!!!!

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Guideline-on-Arrangements-to-Assist-Medically-Dependent-Consumers.pdf

BUT....(d) the Guideline does not imply a guaranteed supply of electricity. Temporary
electricity outages do occur from time to time. It is expected that:
(i) MDCs note that retailers cannot guarantee the supply of electricity at
all times. Therefore MDCs need to take responsibility…

The other angle that occurred to me…

We think twice about calling an ambulance because of the cost…

Bloody hell! and you still sail?

Bloomin heck! I'm not religious, but I have more than once been in a boat in a 3m sou wester aiming for the Kawhia Bar. Singing under my breath...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KCiMdR1ox0

A little bit of background here. A civic dignitary who…

So, are ambulance services in Wellington free to people being transported? They're not in Auckland.

Good question. Unlike enlightened places like Wellington, Chch doesn't have a free ambulance. Even if you've made your way to the doc via your own transport, if you're deemed to be hospital fodder…

Not. Their. Problem.
#pffft

I'd be quite happy if I thought there was even a plan A in this context

It is odd. We regularly point out to…

That skillset (and organisational permission to use it) is lacking. Part of the problem is that the Public Finance Act etc makes it too hard for agencies to share responsibility…

Our GP was perfectly comfortable with his Mac based practice, but was obliged to change to the Dark Side in order to have compatibility with DHB systems, apparently.

I understand the attraction, I'll put one in with the cake :-)

Not to mention that it's rather more efficient and sustainable to generate power as a community resource rather than individually (and given…

We have a pure…

Trouble is you need batteries to store your solar power so you can use it at night, that seems to be where the major cost is for independence of supply now. Although…

Great, that’s a practical solution which only needs manual connection as required. If I had your address I’d send you a cake! Thanks…

yup, same here in Auckland. The DHB's have been starved for too long and hospital equipment is often troublesome. Unfortunately it'll probably take a publicised needless death or two for the resourcing situation to be addressed…

I'm unclear how I'd actually connect a UPS but I'll investigate further. When I asked an electrical firm about UPS some time ago, they checked things out and said it would be impractical because of…

In recent times I’ve only experienced the delivery and post-natal areas of Wellington’s DHB, but my impression of that was that much of the equipment was dated and not always working reliably. In all the times…

It took a week to repair and our very unwell elderly neighbour, George, became quite distressed as he…

I'm going to guess that it has two modes of operation, and somehow FG is one and sys is the other. But even 3.75A at 24V is only 90W, so a modern lithium battery should be able to power it for a while. If you…

I really suspect (having worked with a variety of medical devices) that the portable UPS is actually a better solution in almost all cases, just because it's flexible. Rather than one battery…

https://www.pharmac.health.nz/medicines/hospital-devices/

But it wouldn't bode well for GDP (Gross Dithering & Procrastination) What would happen if the Wheel…

I'm amazed that in-home medical equipment actually comes without a battery backup – even if only half…

yes, my thinking too. But it requires leadership from somewhere as well as a comprehensive understanding of…

Well, that's the problem right there. The more people there are responsible for an outcome, the less likely that outcome will be achieved.

Not at all....and believe it or not we had kinda worked out what you said (gulp!) but not in so many words.

The $1425.67 per night sounds about right...just for the bed, and peripherals...such as nursing care and the like. No actual treatment per se.…

And of course when I review my figures, I find I have posted in haste, and must now repent. The actual figure per night is somewhere in the range of about $700 – $1425 rather than “over $4500”. The “over $4500”…

Thanks Moz, that's extremely useful information, which I will follow up on. I'm not sure of the power needs of the BiPAP, there isn't actually…

2kVA? Would that do the necessary?

"Retail price (excluding GST): $2,595.56"

Trade or bulk buying...much cheaper.

This model s popular with the motorhoming fraternity...must have your coffee machine! Seriously though, there are a few living fulltime in Buses that have CPAP and BiPaps...the genny is a must.

Yes, and we had quite a lot of worry until we came up with a workable solution. You don't need extra anxiety when you already…

That's not usually how it works, though. As with cellphone…

We previously had a problem obtaining an essential piece of therapeutic equipment. Although recognised by the medical experts in the field as necessary and urgent, the Ministry of Health in its wisdom has a policy of…

yup, the Ministry of Health funded agencies (Manawanui and Taikura) both thought it had been sorted by obliging the power companies to do something. But they are wrong about that. I politely informed…

Thanks Moz, I researched UPS some time back and found that we couldn't afford to purchase one. It didn't occur to me to ask the hire outfit if they have them,…

Specialised batteries are available but not built in. The DHB responsible for respiratory equipment like ours in Auckland does not purchase the batteries. Their policy is to offer to provide a letter for the patient to…

Because of the buck-passing, only those people with enough social capital end up getting help. All of us pay…

I'm not questioning this figure....but have you a source for that?

I'll have a read after my eyes have stopped watering.

And yes, given that planned power outages are necessary and inevitable, it makes absolute sense for…