Are you a home baker? Rise up Tauranga is calling on the Bay of Plenty community to provide fresh home baking as a way to show support for the front line staff at Tauranga and Whakatane Hospitals over the next seven weeks.

'We need our awesome Western and Eastern Bay of Plenty communities to please provide seven weeks of fresh home baking for hospital staff from February until Easter,” says Rise Up Tauranga's Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

'During this Phase 3 Omicron period, the Tauranga and Whakatane Hospital staff from the Path Lab, Emergency Department (ED) and general hospital ward staff will be going over and beyond to process thousands of Covid tests and care for many people coming into ED and the hospital wards. During the Omicron outbreak, the hours are expected to be even longer and more intense and stressful than they've already experienced.

"Some fresh home baking from the community is a great way to show support."

Cake baked and decorated by Che Crawford. Photo: Supplied.

The plan is for Bay of Plenty people to sign up via a Google Doc form, choose either a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, and then drop off fresh home baking at the contactless depots at both hospitals set up by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board Emergency Planning Team. The team will then distribute the baking to the staff in wards, ED and the pathology laboratory.

For those who want to, they can take photos of themselves and their baking to share on the Rise Up Tauranga Facebook page.

The fresh home baking project for Tauranga and Whakatane Hospital staff will run for seven weeks from Monday, February 28 to Wednesday, April 13, just before Easter.

'We think this will be the most intense time as the Omicron outbreak peaks,” says Rosalie.

Rosalie started working as a medical laboratory technologist at Tauranga Hospital before continuing on with further study at Wellington Hospital.

"So I know first-hand how intense the work can be. Focusing on being as accurate and as efficient as possible why working under high pressure over a prolonged time can be gruelling. I remember once after attending a vehicle accident on my way to working at the Tauranga Hospital lab. It was particularly horrific and I rode in the back of the ambulance holding a man's foot to his leg by one tendon trying to save his life. After we arrived at ED I walked over the lab, sat down to do some work, and suddenly found my whole body shaking. Dave Paterson, one of my Biochemistry colleagues made me drink a cup of tea and eat a biscuit. Immediately I felt restored. He said 'a little bit of carbohydrate soothes the nerve endings, you'll be right in a minute'. And I was.

"Some delicious baking made with love tends to lift people's morale too. It will be nice to give all the frontline staff a booster.

'So we need as many people as possible to choose a day each week that they can commit to providing baking - either biscuits, cakes, fruit loaf, muffins, scones, tarts, flans or slices. And you can choose gluten and dairy free options.”

Cardboard cake boxes are available to purchase from New World Mount Maunganui. Photo: Che Crawford.

New World Mount Maunganui has cardboard cake boxes and trays available for purchase from their Deli department which will enable home bakers to place their baking in a container which won't need returning.

'We are also contacting other supermarkets to see if they can also make their boxes available for purchase,” says Rosalie.

'There will be contactless delivery of the fresh home baking on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 9am and 11am at a drop-off bay at both hospitals. After signing up and choosing their day, we will provide bakers with the details of each location and a map showing them where to go. Please do not go to the hospital main entrance with your baking.”

The fresh home baking for hospital staff is a project run by Rise Up Tauranga in liaison with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board Emergency Planning Team. Updates will be posted to the www.facebook.com/riseuptauranga page .

For more information contact Rosalie Liddle Crawford on rosalie@topshelfdesign.com.

To sign up to be a fresh home baker click here

Decorated cookies. Photo: Che Crawford.