Gavin Jones has a learning disability and has lived in a self-contained unit on the IDEA Services property in Wairoa for 16 years. Photo / Supplied
By Olivia Shivas, Stuff
Residents of an IDEA Services residential home in Wairoa are still waiting to get back to the property after they were relocated to Rotorua due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
However, there was no damage to the Wairoa building and a resident’s sister said they should have been moved back by now.
Roseann Johnston’s brother Gavin Jones has a learning disability and has lived in a self-contained unit on the IDEA Services property for 16 years.
“He is really distressed ... because he doesn’t know when he’s going home,” she said.
Johnston acknowledged IDEA Services took the right steps to move her brother to Rotorua because it was an emergency situation with the property losing power for two days, however, he should be back home.
“It’ll kill him to leave Wairoa,” she said.
She said Jones, 69, is a local icon and goes into Wairoa town every day to visit the shops.
“Everyone in Wairoa, they call him the unofficial town mayor, the town crier,” Johnston said. “The town are absolutely fantastic to him.”
Jones’ friend since childhood, Ian Gemmell, said Jones loves his routine – every day he would say hi to the Wairoa shop owners and then they would have coffee together.
After Cyclone Gabrielle, Gemmell was called by one of the home’s staff and was told Jones had moved to Rotorua for three weeks and then would come back.
“Suddenly Gavin was taken away,” Gemmell said. “These poor people like Gavin and the other ones are the victims.”
Since Jones moved to Rotorua, Johnston, who is his power of attorney, has received only one phone call from IDEA Services regarding the situation.
“There’s no word of them coming back or anything,” she said.
All Jones’ furniture and belongings are still in Wairoa after he was “carted off” without any toiletries, “not even a razor”, Johnston said.
Johnston said the Wairoa staff, whom she described as “incredible”, don’t seem to know what’s going on either.
IDEA Services regional manager Lianne Bryers said the Wairoa residents were relocated on February 20, a week after the cyclone hit, because the phones and internet were down as well as “critical” staffing levels, not due to damage on the property.
“We were forced to relocate the people we support to ensure they continued to receive an ongoing and safe service,” Bryers said.
She said two out of the five people who lived in Wairoa wished to continue living in Rotorua and Tauranga.
“We respect their wishes and therefore need to discuss the options available with the other three people we support, their families and Whaikaha.”
Regarding the remaining three residents, she said discussions about their options were under way with families and Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People.
Johnston, who is based in Napier, checks in with her brother every couple of days.
“I’d like him get back to his place, I think it’s cruel at his age. I’ll fight it to the end but I don’t know if it’s going to help.”
