Thanks to everyone for their patience while the building work has been completed. The new rooms have been up and running this past week and were well worth the wait. The new nurses room/treatment room increases our treatment room areas to three and is a very spacious. Dr. Aidan Williams has personalised his room with a series of canvas prints from his travels – find out more of his travel and practice experiences around the world when your next drop in to see him.

Nurses room

Dr. Aidan Williams

Yesterday’s Echo article incorrectly had our opening hours starting at 7:30 am instead of the normal opening time of 8:00 am. We will be covering these hours for the rest of this week in case any of our patients come in early but so far the most popular time for the drop-in clinic remains the 8:30 to 9:30 slot once everyone has got up and about. From next week we will be resuming normal hours with the surgery opening before 8:00 so that the first patient can be seen at 8:00. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

Have you wondered what your GP’s do at weekends ? Dr Aidan Williams wanted share what he did last weekend with his brother.
Anyone been interested in doing a skydive and been afraid to do it?  Aidan will share his thoughts on the matter and check your personal health considerations at the same time.

Heading back to earth

With ANZAC day falling on a Friday this year everyone is enjoying another long weekend and it looks like the weather is going to be a little kinder than it was for Easter. As with Easter it is sometimes easy to forget the real reason for the holiday and it pays to focus on the sacrifices made in the past so that we can enjoy the freedom and peace that we do today.

With this year marking the 25 year anniversary of the Tarawera Medical Centre it is moving to look back and remember the privilege we have had in sharing in aspects of the lives of patients who are/were veterans and victims of past wars. Unfortunately as the years pass their number dwindles but there are still those with amazing stories of sacrifices made. Invariably they are very humble people who make little of their contribution and will only share their stories with some prompting. We have been fortunate to know members of the Maori Battalion and other infantry divisions, Bomber and fighter pilots from Europe, Corsair and Kittyhawk pilots from the Pacific, Navymen, servicewomen and civilians who worked in heavy industry in support of the war, and refugees from Eastern Europe who made a new home in New Zealand. Vietnam veterans deserve special mention because of limited public support for their service compared to previous conflicts. The reality of it all continues today with the loss of Kawerau local, Luke Tamatea along with his colleagues Jacinda Baker and Richard Harris in Afghanistan in 2012.

With the comforts of the modern world it is sometimes easy to forget what went before and we need to consciously remind ourselves and educate our children.