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Warning: this story contains some distressing details.
The Whakaari / White Island eruption sparked a massive health response across the country, from ambulance officers on the ground to the best burn surgeons in the country.
Geoff and Lillani Hopkins helped rescue injured tourists from Whakaari. This photograph was taken before the eruption.
Photo: Supplied to RNZ by Lillani Hopkins
At the time the volcano erupted, there were 47 people on the island, 22 people lost their lives and many suffered serious burns.
Hamilton resident Geoff Hopkins and his daughter Lillani were aboard a tourist boat that had left the island just before it exploded.
The ship turned around to rescue whoever they could from Whakaari.
Both received first aid training and assisted the victims during the painful return to Whakatāne.
Geoff said there was little they could do other than clean people’s burns and offer them comfort.
“The one person I spent most of the time on the way home who said to me ‘I’m not going to make it’, and to be able to give them some hope and reassurance of ‘yes, you can make it, you will make it, your best days are to come, many years ahead “.
File photo of Whakaari / White Island prior to last year’s eruption.
Photo: Unsplash / Farrah Fuerst
University of Auckland professor of volcanology Shane Cronin said the burns were horrible.
“The burns that kept burning, and that’s the problem.”
He said there was a cocktail of chemicals in the volcanic material that added to the injuries.
There was fluorine, which acts as a poison in the body, while sulfur reacts with oxygen and water to produce more acid.
“Along with the hot material, which rebuked the hot material, the steam, and also the acid it contained, the fluorine and sulfur were ongoing acids.”
He called the circumstances of the eruption, where people were on the island on a hot summer day, the worst case.
“So everyone was wearing T-shirts and shorts, and yes, masks – actually, they were quite effective, remarkably effective, and they had some helmets … but it was a hot day and a lot of skin was uncovered. The rash It happened on a colder day or … in winter when people were more dressed, there would have been a much, much better outcome. “
Dr. Vanessa Thornton of Middlemore Hospital.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
The patients were first taken to Whakatāne Hospital before being dispersed to hospitals across the country, including Middlemore, Canterbury, Waikato and Hutt.
Middlemore Hospital emergency department clinical director Dr. Vanessa Thornton said the first 48 hours after the eruption were very busy.
The National Burn Service is headquartered in the hospital and staff rushed to prepare to treat the victims by organizing staff and equipment.
He said the need for hospital-level burn care exceeded the capacity available in New Zealand and 19 people ended up flying home overseas for treatment.
“We were lucky because a lot of the patients were from Australia, so [we] they were able to repatriate several of the patients to their places of origin. It’s a long, complex, operative and rehabilitative process, so for those patients it would be better to be at home for this, “Thornton said.
St John’s psychologist Adele Saunders traveled to Whakatāne a few days after the eruption to support staff.
St John’s staff are familiar with treating burns, but the eruption presented an entirely new challenge: large numbers of patients with a variety of severe to life-threatening burns, all at the same time.
He said they had dealt with burns before, but that it was the first volcanic eruption they had dealt with, made worse by the smell of sulfur.
That created a challenging work environment, he said.
“There would have been a lot more pain, the smells, it would have been a lot of emotionally provocative parts of the job that people would have struggled with in the moment and days after.”
She believes that no one is immune to the impact of trauma and staff are encouraged to seek support.
Saunders said the eruption had shown how resilient St John’s staff was.
