Elspeth McLean

A new 12-bed centre offering rehabilitation and respite care for those under 65 with physical disabilities is expected to open in late Sep-tember in Maryhill.

While Dr Dorothy Page was researching the history of the University of Otago medical school for her new book, she came across some fascinating characters. Elspeth McLean reports.

A crippling brainstem stroke left Dunedin man Warren Palmer locked in a cruel world - paralysed, speechless and able to communicate only by blinking. But he has amazed those closest to him with his determination. Elspeth McLean meets a man who is fighting back.

Swish-swishing down the lanes of the Dunedin physio pool, an aqua-jogging Elspeth McLean puts herself, metaphorically and momentarily, in the skis of the Prime Minister.

The Plunket Society could receive up to $18,000 from fund-raising to be held next month for its Dunedin post-natal depression support service.

Involvement of the Otago Regional Council with the Harbour Cone block was promoted by Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick yesterday, but the regional council does not seem keen.

How patients will be billed and how much they might pay for laboratory tests ordered by private specialists in Otago and Southland in future has yet to be settled.

Dunedin and Wakari Hospital services will be back to normal today following continued waning of the norovirus outbreak.

People who have speech difficulties after a stroke or other head injury often experience social exclusion and can become isolated, speech language therapist Alison Zani says.

Plans to close four Otago Community Hospice beds next month will go ahead, but there could be a temporary reopening later if fund-raising for the organisation is between $180,000 and $200,000 more than anticipated.

Dunedin Hospital is restricting visitors in an effort to contain its suspected norovirus outbreak which was affecting five wards yesterday.

Another potentially controversial proposal to limit entry to Dunedin Hospital's stretched emergency department is being considered by the Otago District Health Board.