6 June 2013 (PDF 2.4MB) - Taranaki District Health Board

13Mrs Young was involved in the implementation of the “Front Row to Go” hearingsystem for Base Hospital, the New Plymouth District Council, Puke Ariki, GovettBrewster Art Gallery and the Disability Information Centre.Mrs Young’s passion is in education and awareness around hearing loss. Beingborn with moderate hearing loss she has 20% hearing with the assistance ofhearing aids. Mrs Young acknowledged hearing disability is hereditary in herfamily of which her mother, herself and her son have a hearing impairment.With the closure of the Hearing Association in 2001 and the sale of the LemonStreet property, proceeds from the sale were invested in hearing dogs and theDisability Hearing Centre in Deaf Aotearoa. The dogs are trained for four monthswith sounds around the home ie the doorbell, timer, phone, alarm clock and smokealarm.Mrs Young assisted with the training of staff at Base and Hawera hospitals in theuse of the Omega hearing system. Eight Omega hearing systems are in BaseHospital and two in Hawera Hospital.Chairman thanked Mrs Young for her presentation723.4 Mr Brian EriksenBrian Eriksen, Manager, Taranaki District Information Centre. His role provides acommunity connection for the 50 affiliated disability groups; a member of theDisability Action Group; Coordinator of the Taranaki Disability Strategy CoalitionGroup; Chairman Apepsi Trust, Chairman Kindred Trust; member of Cook for LessTrust, Chairman Community Housing Action Taranaki, Member of the TransportOfficers Group Regional Council New Plymouth District Council, Media Assessorand Coordinator of the Social Services Group Health and Disabilities.Mr Eriksen advised the Taranaki Disability Information Centre was set up in 1984to provide accessible resources to empower people with disabilities to makepersonal choices about their quality of life.Mr Erikson thanked the committee for holding the meeting at the InformationCentre and was very pleased with the DHB relationship with the communitythrough the Disability Action Group.In 2001 the New Zealand Disability Strategy was launched. Strategy 1 was toeducate and inform people around disabilities. The Disability AwarenessWorkshops have been designed to give each individual, group or organisation abetter insight into life with a disability. Mr Erikisen advised the workshop could beadapted to run at the hospital.Discussion• Mrs Rumball who has done the workshop through the New Plymouth DistrictCouncil, noted the time and motion factor changes completely for peoplewith disabilities.• Ms Tuuta recommended Board members and the Management Team attendthese workshops.CPHAC DSAC 30 April 201313