Otago Medical School students learn from rural perspective

Otago Medical School students gained a rural perspective last week on providing healthcare services in a district with a large footprint but low population base.

Hurunui District Mayor Marie Black hosted the visiting students in Hurunui District Council’s Chambers on Thursday, 24 August as part of the third-year students’ assessment of healthcare provision in rural areas. The students visited healthcare providers around Hurunui, including medical centres, St John, Rural Support Trust and a preschool.

Mayor Black said Hurunui’s demographics provide both challenges and opportunities when it comes to delivering and accessing health services. With no public transport and over 25 percent of the population over the age of 65 by 2051, the challenge is providing access to healthcare services and medical appointments to the elderly, as well as young people who often don’t have a Driver Licence.

Mayor Black, who was previously a Plunket health worker living and working in Hurunui, said the opportunities that come with living in Hurunui are the same that enrich many other rural communities: a desire to give back and look for community-led solutions.

“The Hawarden-Waikari Community Vehicle Trust’s AGM last week revealed 69 people over the past year were picked up from their homes, taken to medical appointments and brought back home in a community-owned car. This relies on our volunteers to provide a dignified service in the absence of public transport.”

Of Hurunui’s five health centres, four are community owned, she told the students. “These are funded by our ratepayers.”

Mayor Black said students from the medical school have been visiting Hurunui for the past 10 years, including when she worked for the New Zealand Plunket Society. “It was valuable to have an opportunity to provide a rural perspective to future healthcare providers and encourage them to consider returning to our rural district to work.”

With more retirement villages being proposed for Amberley, retaining and attracting general practitioners and nurses was vital, Mayor Black said.