King's Birthday Honours: Ron Ealam recognised for work training search and rescue dogs
LandSAR
There are many ways to serve a community, and Ron Ealam, from Oxford in Canterbury has been doing it, for the last few decades at least, with trusty dogs at his side.
On Monday, Ealam was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his work with Land Search and Rescue over more than 50 years.
For half of that he has been working with rescue dogs - developing the official search dogs training programme and becoming a national trainer and assessor.
"I just quite enjoy being out there, and to actually train a dog up to achieve what we've achieved is just quite amazing," he told RNZ.
He brought with him Skyla, a border collie beardie cross - one of those he has trained over the years.
"They're actually a light, a very light dog that can work pretty good hours and just stop and have a rest and keep going again, and they're just full of energy."
Rescue dogs were trained to recognise human scent, Ealam said.
"We train them initially right from when they were a pup to indicate and follow human scent, which are skin follicles that fall off your body."
And not every dog has a nose for it, he said.
"It's just a matter of finding a dog that has got a good nose, and we developed that and enhance their natural ability… they're pretty amazing... once they pick up a scent, they lock onto it and they'll just stay on it."
One of his most memorable rescues was an early one at Lake Kaniere in the South Island.
"We got a call at 11 o'clock at night for a missing multi-sport runner at Methven, and we drove through the night and we got to Methven about six o'clock in the morning and they put us in a helicopter and took us up onto the tops.
"And we searched down for probably four to six hours, and then my dog indicated on the footprint that went down a creek, and we followed the scent down to the last party and she was there - she was very cold.
"And I can always remember my dog sort of cuddled up to her."
The woman was airlifted out by helicopter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
43 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Details revealed of proposed urgent and after hours
The government has a goal of 98 per cent of New Zealanders being able to access "in person" urgent and afterhours healthcare within a one hour drive from their home. It's allocated $164 million over four years to expand services across the country. Now details of what and where those services will be have emerged. The range of care and opening hours are set out for large urban centres, smaller city services, rural centres and remote areas. There will 21 large urban centres in the North Island, two in the South Island; five smaller city clinics in the North, and six in the South. The Royal College of Urgent Care is pleased at the planned extension of afterhours care, but has expressed reservations over workforce numbers and funding. Kathryn talks to Kelvin Ward, Chair of Royal NZ College Urgent Care and Medical Director at the Wellington Accident and Urgent Medical Centre.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Alternative alert system 'mothballed' despite benefits
Some people claim they received the tsunami alert dozens of times. Photo: RNZ/ Karoline Tuckey The founder of an alternative emergency alert framework says officials never gave it a look-in when they were setting up the under-fire Emergency Mobile Alert system. And he reckons his was better, proving its worth during the aftermath of the Christchurch quakes. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is investigating glitches in the current system following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia on Wednesday . Some Kiwis say they received up to 50 alerts, while some did not receive any at all. Matthew Nolan founded an alternative system, Readynet, which was used during the Christchurch Earthquakes and to mobilise volunteers cleaning up the Rena oil spill. "I think that the NEMA system - which costs them the best part of $20 million - has miscued for them, and it's certainly not the first time," he told Morning Report on Friday. "There is a record of it waking people up at night for messages that were text messages only, and as well as circumstances where people did not get the alert that they should have got." NEMA spokesperson John Price told Checkpoint on Thursday there were many reasons for the differences. "It could be different providers and different cell towers. There's a lot of possibilities, but this is something we're working through. We'll look into it, absolutely." Nolan criticised the NEMA system as being "one-way" only, and unable to tell if people had actually received the message as no information was sent back. "Whereas other systems and a better system, and yes, our system was interactive, and we could see where the messages had been received. "So for example, you send a message out into an area where there's a big river and cell towers have been wiped out. Our system would tell you that all the people in that river have not received the message - all the people in that river valley have not received the message. You can deduct from that, that in fact, the cell phone towers are out." Where the magnitude 8.8 quake struck. Photo: AFP He claimed the Emergency Mobile Alert system "can't target messages". "It's a modern equivalent of a World War 2 fire siren. It alerts people that something's happening and it gives them a brief message, but it can't target messages. "So for example… people in Upper Hutt got no message. In Lower Hutt, lots of people got the message. So, you know, why is there a difference between one area and another?" According to the NEMA website, the current system can "broadcast to all capable phones from targeted cell towers to areas affected by serious hazards". "You may not receive an alert if you are out of mobile coverage, mobile phone towers are damaged, or there is a power outage." Price said the variation in coverage "could be different providers and different cell towers, there's a lot of possibilities". Nolan suggested the system was not working as well as it could because it was now owned by "a banking conglomerate out of New York". New Zealand's system was provided by Dutch company one2many, which is now a division of Everbridge Public Warning, an American software company that specialises in alert systems. "Now, those sorts of companies are chasing the big markets, the multi-million markets, and I think New Zealand is a very small end of that market," Nolan said. "There is no office of that organisation in Wellington to work alongside emergency services in New Zealand… "I think that a New Zealand-owned, developed, supported, helpdesked system is the best, and that's what we had built, and our system is now mothballed." He said he asked officials to look at using Readynet for the national system, but "they never ever fully examined what we had, even though it was used during Christchurch to communicate after the Christchurch earthquake, to communicate with all the residents and contractors left inside the cordons. "And that was, information such as, well, 'The cordon will be open on the corner of such and such street at four o'clock this afternoon to allow people in and out for shopping there.' That's the sort of stuff you can't put on Facebook." As of Friday morning, a tsunami advisory remained in place . Pacific nations emerged relatively unscathed . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
What you need to know about emergency medical care in New Zealand
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Frontline ambulance crews responded to more than 450,000 incidents nationwide in 2024, according to latest data compiled by Hato Hone St John. But do users need to pay for an ambulance if one is called to transport them to an emergency medical centre? And why does it sometimes take so long to see a doctor after arriving at an emergency department? In a medical emergency, it's good to know the answers to these questions and more ahead of the incident. Here's what you need to know about New Zealand's emergency healthcare system. Police advise people in a medical emergency to call 111 and ask for an ambulance if either someone has: Communications centres located in various parts of the country receive 111 emergency calls and coordinate the deployment of air or ground resources. In the event of a medical emergency, the communications centre will assign the most appropriate emergency unit to the scene. In most parts of New Zealand, ambulance services are provided by Hato Hone St John. In Wellington, they are offered by Wellington Free Ambulance. Large public hospitals have emergency departments, which operate 24/7 and are staffed with on-duty physicians around the clock. Find the locations of emergency departments nationwide here . It's important to note that New Zealand's emergency system is primarily supported by the public healthcare system. While some private hospitals do offer emergency medical services, insurance providers sometimes exclude emergency costs incurred at private facilities. Emergency departments typically do not provide non-urgent medical treatment. However, if a patient or injured person is near an emergency department and the condition is critical, they can be taken directly to the facility without waiting for 111 dispatch. Critical conditions include such things as heavy bleeding, broken major bones, bad burns, chest pain, issues related to breathing or consciousness, mental health emergencies, severe allergic reactions and injuries due to an accident (for example, a car crash). If an injured or ill person is a long way from an emergency department, police advise people to call 111 for an ambulance. Yes - and it's not cheap. For example, Hato Hone St John reports that each emergency deployment costs around $1000. However, users of the service are not charged the full amount. Citizens, residents or those with work visas exceeding two years are charged $125 per callout. For ambulance calls responding to an injury, whether a patient pays depends on the timing the service is provided. If the service is used within 24 hours of injury, Accident Compensation Corporation covers the cost. If more than 24 hours have passed, the patient bears the cost. It's worth noting that you might be charged a callout fee if someone else calls the ambulance on your behalf. For overseas visitors or short-term visa holders who are not eligible for public healthcare, callout charges can be as high as $800. Sometimes people question why they don't receive immediate treatment upon arrival at the emergency department. Upon arrival, emergency departments use a triage scale to assess and prioritize patients based on urgency. In New Zealand, emergency departments follow the Australian triage scale , which has five levels, with level one being the most critical and level five the least. Level five includes non-urgent issues, sometimes even administrative matters (e.g. consultations, prescriptions), and wait times can be as long as two hours. Level one includes life-threatening conditions that require immediate attention and take top priority. Additionally, there is a distinction between "emergency care" and "urgent care". Emergency care focuses on life-threatening conditions and often involves trauma cases (surgical). Urgent care is for less critical medical issues, with some clinics equipped to provide this service. How much one pays to receive emergency care depends on whether one qualifies for public healthcare. National health services directory Healthpoint says emergency care fees for short-term visa holders start at $566.72 per visit. Stays exceeding 10 hours will cost short-term visa holders at least $1768.47. Additional charges may also apply depending on the treatment provided, Healthpoint says. Emergency departments prioritize saving lives. Medical staff cannot verify a patient's public healthcare status during treatment. If a patient is ineligible, they will receive an invoice for the medical care they receive after treatment. Starship Hospital in Auckland provides a dedicated pediatric emergency department for children aged 0-14, although sometimes older teenagers with acute conditions may also be treated there. In other cities, larger hospitals usually have specialized pediatric services within their individual emergency departments. Emergency dental care is available, but not through an emergency department in most cases. Instead, dental clinics handle this type of care separately. Many offer after-hours emergency services, but routine dental treatment should be arranged with your regular dentist. However, if an accident causes a dental, oral, or gum injury, the injury may be treated during a visit to a regular emergency department. Some translation services are available at many hospitals nationwide. Upon arrival at a hospital, patients or injured people should ask staff to request assistance from an interpreter or arrange translation services online or by phone. If a person is ill or injured but does not need emergency care, Health New Zealand advises them to visit an urgent care clinic or consult their GP at the earliest appointment. They can also contact Healthline for free advice on 0800 611 116. Additionally, a pharmacy can provide advice and support for minor injuries.
