Child with chronic lung disease benefits from home insulation scheme

Rochelle Neale, with son Dante, 3, is excited that her children can now grow up in a healthy home. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Weighing in at 23kg, Dante Neale looks like a rugby player in the making. Mother Rochelle can barely lift her 3-year-old.

She jokingly blames the steroids which Dante takes to keep infection at bay.

Dante has chronic lung disease and last year made almost weekly emergency visits to White Cross clinics for treatment for respiratory problems.

That tally does not include visits to the hospital and family doctor, said Ms Neale. "One minute he's fine, next minute he's blue."

Those visits will hopefully decrease as Dante's home is among the first of 500 receiving insulation as part of the Snug Homes for Auckland project, an initiative run by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

The project, which has the Starship Foundation, Mercury Energy and the Auckland District Health Board among its funders, targets houses built before 1977 when insulation became mandatory.

Low-income households and families with young children, particularly those with respiratory problems, are prime candidates to receive free insulation.

Ms Neale knows exactly how important home insulation can be. Before they found their New Lynn house, she spent nine months looking for a suitable house for herself, Dante and daughter Taija, 12.

"I remember crying on missing out on a house."

Most were too damp or too musty for Dante, she said. He once had to spend three days in hospital after just 15 minutes inside one house.

Their New Lynn home, with its minimal carpeting and large open spaces, suits Dante for most of the year, but gets cold and damp in winter and sets off his attacks.

Dante was born six weeks' premature and from an early age suffered from repeat bronchitis, asthma attacks and pneumonia.

A runny nose could turn into a major chest infection, said Ms Neale. As a result, he has become a hospital regular.

"He calls the doctors by their names. He knows all the hospital staff, too."

Dante is also on adult doses of medication. "You take that away and he crashes hard."

His condition has meant that Ms Neale has had to give up full-time work as a call-taker at the police communications centre to stay home and care for him.

But despite his condition, a recent medical test showed no permanent scarring on Dante's lungs, giving hope that he will grow stronger as he gets older.

The insulation, which went into the house on Friday, will go a long way towards making the little boy more comfortable and healthy.

"This normally doesn't happen to people who rent a house," said Ms Neale. "I can't wait. I'm so excited.

"We won't have to put three layers of blankets on the bed."