Northland's booze problem worst in the Kaipara

Hospital and medical centre staff will be wearing, "Want to say NAH more often?" T-shirts and offering support from the helpline. Photo / File

Kaipara residents are being urged to ease up on the booze with the district having the highest rates of serious alcohol-related road trauma injuries and hospital admissions in the region.

Northland has nearly twice as many booze outlets per head of population as the North Island average with 15.2 off-licences for every 10,000 of population; nearly twice that of the North Island (8.2). Statistics New Zealand said alcohol was a factor in more than a third of arrests in Northland last year and 45 per cent of the Whangarei Hospital emergency department injury-related presentations involved alcohol having been consumed in the 12 hours before admission.

But the situation "per population" is worst in the Kaipara, with serious alcohol-related road trauma injuries in the area last year double the rate in Whangarei.

Northland District Health Board (NDHB) figures released to the Northern Advocate show that in 2013 the region's hospitals reported 538 admissions that were due wholly to alcohol - 226 from Whangarei (.29 per cent of its population), 213 from the Far North (.38 per cent of its population) and 99 from Kaipara (.5 per cent).

Kaipara's population of 18,960 is almost a third of the Far North's 55,734 and less than a quarter of Whangarei's 76,995 residents.

To combat the alcohol-related harm in Kaipara, the Dargaville Hospital and Medical Centre are working with the Alcohol Drug Helpline and the Health Promotion Agency encouraging people to ease up on the drink.

Figures attribute alcohol-related harm as an area of concern for Kaipara with residents presenting to Northland hospitals with a wholly alcohol-attributable condition nearly twice as often in 2013 than 2012. In addition, in 2013, Kaipara had double the amount of serious road trauma injuries involving alcohol and/or drugs compared to Whangarei, plus two fatalities.

Dargaville Medical Centre practice manager Judy Harris said staff are urging people to say, "Yeah I'm up for a good night out but nah I don't want to drink anymore".

"If you want to say 'nah' more often, then the centre can provide support options. We are promoting the Alcohol Drug Helpline. It's free from any mobile or landline and provides trained alcohol and drug counsellors who are there to provide support," she said.

Hospital and medical centre staff will be wearing, "Want to say NAH more often?" T-shirts and offering support from the helpline, she said.

Dargaville Hospital operations manager Jen Thomas supports the message. "If we can prevent at least one family from having to deal with the consequences of long-term brain injury or support a person to receive counselling following alcohol poisoning, then promoting this message and the helpline service is worth it."

NDHB alcohol and other drugs counsellor for Community Health Services Tui Teokotai said alcohol abuse had far-reaching effects.

"It's alcohol which is the main drug we see causing the most harm. It's having a huge impact on people's lives, from family violence, housing and financial struggles, through to health issues and crime," Ms Teokotai said.

The Alcohol Drug Helpline is open between 10am and 10pm on 0800 787 797.

For more information, such as: how to recognise if you have a problem, tips for managing your drinking, how to raise the issue with someone whose drinking you are concerned about, where to go for help, being a responsible host and managing your drinking, log on to the campaign website: www.alcoholdrughelp.org.nz/.

Street view: What do you think?

There is nothing for young people to do here and that leads to them drinking. But what happens here in Dargaville is no different to lots of other rural places.
- Dixie Treider, Dargaville

"I've just been to a cousin's tangi and he died because of alcohol-related violence. I know the tragic end result of what alcohol can do.
- Kendra Beazley, Onerahi

It's a problem with young people because it's so accessible. A solution to some of the problems would be by reducing the number of places that can sell alcohol.
- Lorraine Munn, Dargaville

"I've lived in Alice Springs in Australia where they had time limits on when alcohol could be sold ... you can buy it from 9am when the supermarkets open here."
- Glen Pollington, Te Kopuru