Latest news with #EastCare
1News
18-05-2025
- Health
- 1News
Budget 2025: Govt's $164m plan for urgent, after-hours healthcare
The Government has announced $164 million in Budget 2025 to expand urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country over the next four years, aiming to improve access and reduce pressure on hospitals. New 24-hour urgent care services would be established in Auckland's Counties Manukau and Dunedin by the end of 2025, Tauranga in 2026, and Whangārei and Palmerston North in 2027. New and extended daytime urgent care services were expected to roll out in Lower Hutt in 2025, Invercargill and Timaru in 2026. Trials of rural and remote services were planned to take place in Twizel, Tākaka, Tūrangi, Te Kūiti, Coromandel and Great Barrier Island this year before being rolled out to more than 70 locations nationwide in the next two years. Existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services would be maintained across the country. Speaking at EastCare on Sunday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government had promised to prioritise frontline services to deliver the care that families relIied on every day. "It's about restoring faith in our healthcare system and making sure that patients come first. "When a child's fever spikes in the middle of the night, parents have somewhere to go without delay. When an elderly person duffers from a fall they won't be left waiting in pain." Brown said strengthening urgent and after-hours care was an "important part" of the Government's plan to ensure all New Zealanders had access to "timely, quality healthcare". "This means 98% of New Zealanders will be able to receive in-person urgent care within one hour's drive of their homes," Brown said. "Around 5000 New Zealanders visit urgent care clinics every day, but the availability of after-hours services has declined in recent years, and access remains variable across the country. Brown said the expansion of community-based urgent care would help ease pressure on hospitals and keep emergency departments wait times down for those with the most serious conditions. "We're taking action to ensure Kiwis can access the care they need, when and where they need it." Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey said access to healthcare was one of the biggest concerns for people living in rural and remote communities. "This investment will bring healthcare closer to home for more people." He said rural New Zealanders deserved access to quality healthcare, and that the funding would reduce travel times, improve access, and take pressure off emergency departments. "Geography shouldn't be a barrier to getting the healthcare you need."
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
EastCare celebrates 40th anniversary, looks to help more people in Eastern NC
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — ECU Health is celebrating a major milestone as the EastCare program marks its 40th anniversary of providing critical care services in Eastern North Carolina. EastCare has come a long way since its inception in 1985. 'We started off as a single helicopter program, and we have developed into eight different bases,' said EastCare Program Director Trey Labrecque. 'We have five primary helicopters, with two of those serving as backups, which brings us to a total of seven helicopters and 28 ambulances in our fleet.' This milestone is a significant achievement for both EastCare and ECU Health as a whole, and the organization plans to continue growing to better serve the people of Eastern North Carolina.'More ambulances, potentially more aircraft, as more people move to Eastern North Carolina,' Labrecque added. ECU Health is excited to continue expanding the EastCare program and remain committed to serving communities across the eastern part of the state. Click the video above for more information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Yahoo
Man in critical condition after police say he shot at Amazon vans and caused a car crash
KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) — Lonneil Cordarius Mason, 34, is in critical condition after law enforcement said he shot at three Amazon delivery vans Sunday and then was involved in a car crash while driving on the wrong side of the road. Before the traffic collisions, law enforcement said Mason shot into three Amazon vans, two on Felix Harvey Parkway and one on N.C. Highway 11 north of the parkway. The shootings started at approximately 10:15 a.m. from Mason's vehicle. The Harvey Parkway shootings involved vans driven by females; one was a shot through the passenger door by a .45 caliber pistol, while the second traveled through the back of the van and through several packages by an AR-15 pistol. The third Amazon van shooting occurred on the driver's side of a van driven by a man. None of the Amazon drivers were injured in the shootings. Mason is in critical but stable condition at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville after the vehicle he was driving, a 2011 white BMW, hit an SUV in a head-on collision. Mason was driving North in the southbound lane of N.C. 11 when his BMW struck three vehicles — the first vehicle lost a mirror, the second was hit head-on by Mason and the third was a truck hauling mowers on a trailer. No one was injured in the first and third collisions but there were two female victims in the head-on collision. Both are at ECU Health in Greenville; one was transported by EastCare from UNC Lenoir Health in Kinston to Greenville. The female victims are in critical condition. Their names are being withheld until family is contacted. The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office and State Highway Patrol continue to investigate the events that occurred Sunday morning. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
