Sick teacher in mercy dash from Cooks
Woman on life support in an Auckland hospital after emergency flight, writes Losirene Lacanivalu.
A young Rarotonga primary teacher critically ill with listeria has been evacuated to hospital in Auckland.
Apii Te Uki Ou teacher Grace Archer was flown to Auckland on Air New Zealand flight 945 on May 8, after the ‘‘acute deterioration’’ of her health. Her partner, fellow teacher Theo Warrick, was put on an emergency flight on May 10, to join her.
She is now on life support in the intensive care unit, battling listerial bacterial meningitis. Warrick has been granted special dispensation to be at her side.
Health ministry Te Marae
Ora is now investigating how Archer came to be infected with listeriosis, a foodborne illness that officials say hasn’t been seen in the Cook Islands for at least 10 years.
Public health officials in Rarotonga have been interviewing those close to Archer, to identify possible food sources for the bacterial illness.
‘‘Listeriosis usually causes few or no symptoms for most people, but can be serious for pregnant women, newborn babies, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems,’’ the ministry said.
Te Marae Ora is working closely with Auckland Regional Public Health Service to investigate the case.
It says listeria is likely to be found in foods such as unpasteurised milk and cheese, as well as some seafood and processed meats such as luncheon meat and salami.
Health officials are looking out for patients who might present with symptoms of listeriosis such as fever, chills, nausea and diarrhoea.
Apii Te Uki Ou principal Mark Harris and board president Tony Fe’ao have written to school families.
‘‘Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to Grace, Theo and their families at this very difficult time,’’ they said. ‘‘Please keep them both in your thoughts and we are all very hopeful Grace will make a full recovery and return to us, as soon as possible.’’
Archer, who taught years 3 and 4, had recently been experiencing issues with her health, they said. After nearly three weeks of medical treatment, testing and support on Rarotonga, doctors referred her to New Zealand for more tests – but her condition deteriorated rapidly.
‘‘This is an extremely difficult time for our school and community,’’ Harris and Fe’ao said.
‘‘In their short time at our school, both of these wonderful team members have shown exceptional commitment to our school and students, bring a vibrant energy to what they do, are very impressive teachers and are beautiful people in every way.’’
The school says it will advise families how they can offer financial support to Archer and Warrick.
According to the World Health Organisation, listeriosis is a serious disease, but it is preventable and treatable.
Pregnant women, the elderly or individuals with weakened immunity are at greatest risk of severe listeriosis.
Newborn babies who develop listeriosis can have difficulty breathing, develop a chest infection, and inflammation of the coverings of the brain (meningitis). This can sometimes cause death.
Archer’s family declined to comment.
Cook Islands News
It probably wouldn’t be overstating things too much to say that to some people, broadcaster and journalist Piers Morgan is the devil.
He is one of Britain’s most controversial figures and does more than call a spade a spade. Morgan will dress up as a spade while marching in a Mardi Gras spade parade, and sing songs about a spade until everyone knows that a spade is a spade.
This is the guy who, during Britain’s Mental Health Awareness Week in 2017, lamented there was too much ‘‘public soul-baring’’ by men and tweeted ‘‘Life’s tough – man up.’’
You could hardly accuse Morgan of being a bleeding heart, liberal, social justice warrior, leftie socialist. He probably has more in common with Mike Hosking than, say, John Campbell. And yet, even Morgan says that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has done a great job leading New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, Morgan wishes the UK had a leader like Ardern.
This is akin to Don Brash giving it up for the Waitangi Tribunal.
If the story of the pandemic was a movie, about now would be when the hardworking team of scientists – led by someone cool like Sigourney Weaver – made a breakthrough.
I can picture the scene. Weaver has just said goodbye to her entire family who have died from the disease. She is looking through the microscope and notices how one of the squiggly shapes – (from a substance that she advocated for, despite no-one saying it would work because she’s a woman) is eating the dangerous-looking squiggly bits and eliminating them. Realising this is proof of a successful vaccine, she looks up triumphantly in the half-light of the lab.
In real life, a vaccine is two years away at best. The fastest vaccine ever produced was the one for mumps and that took four years, from collecting viral samples to approval of a drug in 1967.
The ongoing, damning ripple effects of the nationwide lockdown on the economy will keep unfolding and, as Finance Minister Grant Robertson says, the story of Covid-19 is not over.