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Illness is posing a threat in crowded welfare centres. - Source: ONE News -
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Fears are growing about the spread of sickness as more people head into the welfare centres operating in Christchurch.
A ONE News team was with St John ambulance crews in the quake zone today and visited the centre at Addington Raceway where there is concern cases of gastroenteritis could rise.
With the St John building in St Asaph out of action, paramedic volunteers have been called in from other parts of the country and are trying to stop any further outbreak of sickness.
But the battle is getting harder as cramped conditions in the welfare centres take their toll.
"We have people with cardiac conditions, respiratory illness and certainly gastroenteritis and there's been some reports of suspected outbreaks of norovirus as well," St John regional manager Chris Haines said.
Norovirus is a highly contagious form of gastroenteritis that initially comes from eating food that's been exposed to sewage in some way.
"These are all of the types of issues that you would expect with people under stress but also living in a cramped or poor environment as well," he said.
With more illness and cardiac problems, St John has had to bring in staff with higher medical qualifications to Addington Raceway.
"We have 10 registered nurses with paramedic qualifications coming from the North Island and Dunedin to lead our forces in those welfare centres," said Haines.
At least 38 more volunteers from across the country are due to start work tonight. Thirty are operational volunteers and eight are dual qualified ambulance officers and nurses who will assist at the Addington and Linwood welfare centres.
Haines said St John services in Canterbury are currently operating at business as usual levels but they expect to see some call outs to incidents this weekend as the CBD starts to re-open.
Stress is taking its toll across the quake zone and ONE News has been told there has been an increase in cardiac arrests.
St John is also feeling the strain with its headquarters destroyed.
Tuesday's aftershock made their building unsafe and they are now based in the carpark, where they are storing all their urgent medical equipment.
And its not just their workplace that's been destroyed. Some members of the team have been working solidly since the quake struck even though their own homes have been destroyed.
"I know of two staff whose houses have been written off and they were here working on Saturday," said Haines.
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