Page 3 - Phil Wheble News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

“There was some support for the programme in 2017, but it was pretty lukewarm, and we like to have a decent majority in favour before we start rating, so it didn't go ahead.” The council had been able to set up a rating district in Westport last year, after getting enough ratepayer support for a new flood-warning telemetry system, which was a relatively minor project, he said. “They might have to revisit that after what's happened, and look at some floodwall type work, although protecting Westport won't be as straightforward as Greymouth, because it’s bordered by two rivers and the...

A partly-submerged car outside flooded houses on Disraeli St, Westport. Photo: Supplied/NZ Defence Force The one-in-100-year flood forced 2000 people - half the town - to evacuate and many could be homeless for months, as they wait for houses to be stripped, dried out and repaired. The township was effectively cut off as an island between a 12m flood in the mighty Buller River and raging floodwaters in the usually placid Orowaiti River. Birchfield said the regional council proposed setting up a rating district for Westport four years ago to pay for river protection and other work that would ...

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Stuff From early June, bowel screening kits will start arriving in the mailboxes of West Coast people aged 60 to 74, provided they are registered with a general practice. “Many people don’t realise that there might be a problem ... taking the test and returning their test sample could quite literally be a life-saver.” The board also expected to detect some pre-cancerous and non-cancerous polyps (small growths) through the testing. “In these instances, the participants will become part of our surveillance programme. Finding and removing polyps early dramatically inc...

The Government's three-year wage freeze for public servants will undermine efforts to recruit medical staff to the West Coast, a district health board member says.

(File image). Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Health The little town of 900 is the first in New Zealand to have the shots on offer to the general public. West Coast District Health Board operations manager Phil Wheble told the DHB board meeting on Friday that the focus until now had been to immunise front-line health care workers and people in aged care, with 1240 people vaccinated on the West Coast to date. "In Reefton, we have the capacity to vaccinate the health workers and anyone else we can - so it's an opportunity to test our systems for the whole community." Board chairperson Rick Barke...