Opinion: Birth of grandson also highlights maternity unit's needs

Kāpiti mayor K. Gurunathan.

Comment: It's an experience spanning many thousands of years. Hammered and crafted on the anvil of time by civilisations distilling and passing on their best and their worse into the next generations. Born just past noon on Sunday, this one has a Made-in-Kāpiti label.

Like his father, my 23-year-old son Ari, little Kiaan was born at the Paraparaumu Maternity Unit.

Becoming a granddad for the first time adds a new dimension to your life. If time was a river you suddenly feel its depth from the years you have travelled in it and a realisation that those years of memories will be longer than the years you have left ahead of you.

As I held Kiaan for the first time, the bonding spoke of a faith in a future for him and his world. Irrespective of the huge global challenges ahead. Knowing also that the philosophical pontifications of a guru sitting cross-legged under the spiritual tree-of-life will repeatedly come to a sticky end when Kiaan starts spewing half-digested milk on my shirts and jackets.

Kāpiti mayor K. Gurunathan holding Kiaan for the first time.

Tucked away behind the Kāpiti Health Centre, the maternity unit, where Taylor gave birth, has a welcome expanse of green. The supportive staff were fabulous and could provide an even better service if they were supported with better resources.

I did notice that they had only a makeshift kitchen along the corridor. The unit had just two rooms which is mostly adequate but cannot cope during the peak when the ebb and flow of mothers in labour increases and mothers have to be sent to Wellington.

It needs one more birth room and an additional postnatal room. A customised kitchen and storage space would help too.

The primary birthing unit has facilitated 63 births this year, Kiaan being the 63th.

It's an increase from the 44 births for the same period in 2020.

Urgent investment to increase resources is hamstrung by the unpredictability of use. In April, although there were 10 births, there were three transfers to Wellington for mothers in labour. The same month saw 13 transfers into the unit following birth for post-natal care.

April also saw 169 women at the unit for outpatient care.

"Like other health services, we are seeing increasing demand and we are looking at solutions to manage that going forward," said Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) media adviser Chas Te Runa.

I raised the question in relation to the projected increase in Kāpiti's population over the next 30 years by a conservative estimate of 30,000. Kāpiti is also witnessing an increase in young families. Logic would dictate that demand for health services will increase.

I raised a parallel issue when I attended the recent annual celebration event held by the Ōtaki Volunteer Fire Brigade.

The event recognised the length of service committed to this worthy community service.

The Wellington Regional Growth Framework has identified Ōtaki as a growth hub.

This strategic spatial plan identification has a twin in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development. This policy allows for residential developments of six storeys or more around public transport hubs.

As an identified growth hub Ōtaki could potentially see these multi-storey buildings pop up. The equipment and training needed to manage fires on these structures will be different from what the reality is now.

The first question should be to identify when, in the future, should services like health and safety start planning for this coming change.

One thing is for sure. Time passes very quickly. Back in 1995 I started at the Kāpiti Observer and I had two primary school kids. Blink of an eye Claire and I are grandparents.