Minister to open $1.5M spinal unit

Press, 3 February 1979, Page 2

Minister to open $1.5M spinal unit

The Burwood Hospital’s new SI.SM spinal injuries unit shown above, will be opened by the Minister of Health (Mr Gair) on February 23. The 30-bed building includes wards, a theatre suite, and administration rooms and is the first stage of a complex designed for the care of spinal-injury patients from the acute stage to rehabilitation. It will provide care for patients from all over the South Island and as far

north in the North Island as Hamilton. Planning for the unit has been based on international philosophy in the care of spinal-injury patients, and has incorporated some of the latest technological features. Environmental control facilities have been built in so that even the most disabled patients can have some degree of self-suffi-ciency by using tongue movements and breathing actions. Each room is individually air-conditioned; there are six intensive-care

rooms; a theatre and biomedical laboratory; a seminar room; and an activities room for patients. An outdoor sports ground has also been provided to international standards, including a basketball court which doubles as a helicopter launching pad. There is also a wheelchair slalom course, an archery range, and lawns for shot putting and javelin and discus throwing. Spinal injury patients now being treated at the Christchurch Hospital will be transferred to the new

building when it is commissioned about the first week in April. The director of the unit (Mr W. L. F. Utley) said yesterday that it was gratifying to know that Christchurch would have facilities equal to those in major spinal-injury units throughout the world. “Patients have had such poor facilities for so long; but we hope that staff will maintain their efforts to provide the same atmosphere of care in the new unit,” he said. “Bricks and mortar alone do not necessarily mean good treatment.”

The spinal unit will not be complete until two further stages have been built. A 10-bed hostel and four self-care units will be begun this year. The final stage, which will transform the Burwood Hospital into one of the leading rehabilitation units in New Zealand, is still being planned. This consists of a department of physical medicine which will include a gymnasium, hydrotherapy pool, physiotherapy department, and a workshop.