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An innovative and fun solution to helping a neighbour – James Garner, left, and Darcy Smith deliver a Sunday roast to a family friend who is in isolation in Manly wearing snorkel masks, rubber gloves, and black bin liners.
Panic buying at the supermarket has had spinoffs for local food rescue service Love Soup.
The Whangaparaoa-based group’s main source of food is from New World Orewa and the three local Countdown stores. Love Soup director Julie King says the supermarkets have a lot less to give them due to panic buying emptying the shelves.
Meanwhile. Love Soup volunteers have stepped up to support the supermarkets which support them by giving a few hours every day to get the trolleys in – this has become more of a challenge for supermarkets as people buy large amounts of food.
Julie says the organisation is looking for new ways to feed the hungry and homeless people that it supports in the community under the Alert Level 4 restrictions.
“We are looking at starting a delivery service for the food that comes in, so it still goes to people who need it in the community.”
Changes at the pharmacy
Pharmacies who are normally in competition with each other have united into a healthcare team, focusing on the wellbeing of patients and pharmacy staff. Manly Unichem owner Tania Adams says as an essential service, the pharmacists are pulling out all the stops to ensure they stay open.
There are changes in the way the pharmacies deliver their services to avoid transmission of the virus.
“Over the last few weeks, we found that people who were supposed to be in isolation or who had had a consult in their car with the doctor still came into the pharmacy, putting both the pharmacy staff and all our patients at risk,” Tania says. “This brought about changes in the way we operate, in order to protect everyone. For instance, if you are infectious, we might bring the prescription to your car. But we will ring you and talk with you about your medication and answer any questions you might have.”
She says some patients may have been questioned at their pharmacies to ascertain their risk level before being able to enter.
“We, along with several other Coast pharmacies, are adopting a two shift policy. Our team will now split into two shifts with one shift not meeting the other, so that should anyone become infected we need only to isolate one shift and can continue to stay open,” she says.
“As we enter the next phase of the pandemic, you may find pharmacies, while remaining open, become contactless. We will all still be doing prescriptions, selling medicines and getting them to you. Just in a different way. Remember we are all trying our best to help you, so please be mindful that our workloads are at maximum – keep calm and carry on. And most importantly, stay safe.”
Meanwhile, as the community enters Alert Level 4, people are still able to support each other, for instance by leaving food on the doorstep of neighbours, and by keeping in touch electronically.
