When my tāne went to hospital when he had a collapsed lung, we thought he was gonna be kept at Whakatāne hospital, but they had to airlift him to Tauranga.

And the support lady came in to say that me and the kids can stay in the whānau room. But at the end of the day they decided that they would take him to Tauranga because they haven’t got the stuff to help him along, to get him through to the next day. So they sedated him and flew him to Tauranga.

I thought, oh what are we going to do kids? So we had to come home just for that night. And then get ourselves ready to go to Tauranga. When we got there, they also got a support group there that offered us a house, a whānau house, just not far from the hospital. It was just a walk away, and so we stayed in the whānau house.

It was a three bedroom house. Only fifty dollars a night. And it was okay because we had kids, grandkids, his brother-in-law, his brothers and others.

So if they offer you accommodation, please just take it. If you wanna be with your loved one and you don’t wanna go home, please just take the accommodation. ‘Cause they will offer, they’re not gonna leave you stranded. So when they offer, just take it. You know, whether you gotta cramp up your family, it’s okay, it’s just for a night. You can decide the next day what you’re gonna do after that.