The referral for this whānau was recieved from their GP practice. The whānau consits of Mum, Dad and 3 children; a 4 year old girl, 3 year old boy, and 10mth old baby (with a genetic condition and significant health issues).
The whānau were living in a whānau owned property. They reported issues with dampness and mould. There were also a few structural issues creating draughts and contributing to dampness.
The front sliding door was unable to close fully, creating a significant draught and also preventing the home from being secured/ locked. The bathroom and laundry had no door allowing all moisture created in these spaces to move into the rest of the home. These issues were both able to be repaired through the Child Healthy Homes Program (CHHP) and Te Wharariki trust minor repairs program.
Baby’s bassinet had previously gone mouldy and had to be thrown out so the whānau were bed sharing with baby. Through the hospitals safe sleep program, Te Wahakura Pēpi , we were able to organise a pepi pod, and through our Variety funding a cot for baby to begin to transition to sleeping in.
A beautiful quilt and bedding for the cot was provided by the Red Cross Sewing group.
The whānau understood the need for baby’s sleep space to be between 18-20 degrees, but the heater they were using was dangerous as it had broken switches and exposed wires. We replaced this with a heater from CHHP stock.
Through the Red Cross Curtain Bank we ordered a curtain and linings for the two exisiting curtains over the large ranch slider doors to help insulate the home and stop heat loss out the windows. Bubble wrap was also provided to support with this.
In addition to the support with warm and dry we were also able to connect the whānau with other supports and resources through our community contacts; smoke alarms from the Fire Service, support from WINZ/MSD, and child safety devices through Safe Kids Aotearoa.
The whānau are now able to keep the warm air in and cold air out of the home and have safe ways to heat the home and sleeping space to the reccomended temperature. Baby has a warm safe sleep space and other safety devices have been installed for the other children.
Along with the sturctural repairs the whānau also has knowledge on how best to manage moisture and ventilate their home to minimise future issues with mould.
Texts of thanks.
“That bedding was beautiful I can’t wait to set up her new bed”
“Our front sliding door has been repaired and is operating perfectly thank you so much we are all very happy here”
