Community health and wellbeing by working together.
I have been having many conversations with people around Upper Hutt about how our wellbeing is being impacted by modern life, and the amount of uncertainty and challenges we face.
Upper Hutt is a hive of activity with new developments like the Maidstone Community Sport Hub, the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport, Blue Mountains Campus, Lane Street Studios and various new residential areas being built. These are exciting times indeed. However, it would be wrong to think that everything is rosy – we have some issues underneath the surface that we need to think about as leaders in the community.
As we welcome new visitors and residents, it is important that we celebrate our whānau, heritage, and culture as the caring, safe, and healthy community we aspire it to be. I see our community aspirations to be caring, safe and healthy for interconnected people from all walks of life.
When listening to the concerns of residents in high noise areas, I have heard about the negative impact a lack of sleep has had on their mental health and ability to function during the day. Other residents feel their voices aren’t heard when they’ve raised safety issues arising from neighbourhood roads being used for illegal high-speed races. Ensuring that our businesses are operating respectfully of residents, and that we are respectful to each other, are key elements in building the caring community we want it to be.
I know that the community also has concerns about the level of policing we have in the city. The Māori Wardens, Community Patrols and Police do an amazing job with the resources they have, however more is needed. I am passionate about doing what I can to work with Police and other community leaders to think about how we can design our city to provide a safer environment and ensure the Police are where they need to be. Achieving community safety is a collective effort.
A healthy community is one that has access to well-resourced health care including an afterhours clinic, a safe and accessible hospital and specialist services like maternity care. It’s time we started to ensure our growing community receives the level of health services we deserve. Needing urgent care is stressful enough – each of us deserves to have confidence that the services we need are there when we need them. Feeling that we are cared for and that we are safe and healthy are fundamental human rights that we need to cultivate and protect. I look forward to continuing to have conversations with people from across our community, hearing from them about what the Council’s community outcomes mean to them and working together on solutions.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini – success is not mine alone, it is ours. The greatest successes we will have are from working together.
Community health and wellbeing by working together.
I have been having many conversations with people around Upper Hutt about how our wellbeing is being impacted by modern life, and the amount of uncertainty and challenges we face.
Upper Hutt is a hive of activity with new developments like the Maidstone Community Sport Hub, the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport, Blue Mountains Campus, Lane Street Studios and various new residential areas being built. These are exciting times indeed. However, it would be wrong to think that everything is rosy – we have some issues underneath the surface that we need to think about as leaders in the community.
As we welcome new visitors and residents, it is important that we celebrate our whānau, heritage, and culture as the caring, safe, and healthy community we aspire it to be. I see our community aspirations to be caring, safe and healthy for interconnected people from all walks of life.
When listening to the concerns of residents in high noise areas, I have heard about the negative impact a lack of sleep has had on their mental health and ability to function during the day. Other residents feel their voices aren’t heard when they’ve raised safety issues arising from neighbourhood roads being used for illegal high-speed races. Ensuring that our businesses are operating respectfully of residents, and that we are respectful to each other, are key elements in building the caring community we want it to be.
I know that the community also has concerns about the level of policing we have in the city. The Māori Wardens, Community Patrols and Police do an amazing job with the resources they have, however more is needed. I am passionate about doing what I can to work with Police and other community leaders to think about how we can design our city to provide a safer environment and ensure the Police are where they need to be. Achieving community safety is a collective effort.
A healthy community is one that has access to well-resourced health care including an afterhours clinic, a safe and accessible hospital and specialist services like maternity care. It’s time we started to ensure our growing community receives the level of health services we deserve. Needing urgent care is stressful enough – each of us deserves to have confidence that the services we need are there when we need them. Feeling that we are cared for and that we are safe and healthy are fundamental human rights that we need to cultivate and protect. I look forward to continuing to have conversations with people from across our community, hearing from them about what the Council’s community outcomes mean to them and working together on solutions.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini – success is not mine alone, it is ours. The greatest successes we will have are from working together.