Health promotion

Spring has arrived

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Tracy Wilson's lovely Spring garden

Tracy Wilson’s lovely Spring garden in front of Tarawera Medical Centre

Spring has well and truly arrived with a warm August bringing clouds of pollen. Thanks to talented nurse/garden wizard Tracy Wilson, the garden is in full bloom and looking lovely. Resident artist/receptionist Sara Morris has extended the Spring theme indoors with a bright poster promoting Cardiovascular Risk Assessments. After some dedicated hard work we are very pleased to have achieved the 90% target of completed CVRAs for eligible patients in our enrolled population.

Sara's colourful CVRA display surrounded by Spring Daffodils

Sara’s colourful CVRA display surrounded by Spring Daffodils

We have had a relatively mild winter with very little genuine influenza after a good uptake with the flu vaccines. We had a few epidemics of the usual winter colds and will no doubt have some more into Spring. We are seeing a lot of the usually allergy symptoms with the pollen so it you are troubled by this make an appointment and we can work out a plan for you depending on your specific symptoms. With the brighter and longer days it is a good time to remember the importance of covering up in the sun to reduce the risk of future skin cancer problems.

Immunisation Week

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Shannin and Sarah with the Immunisation Week display in the waiting room

Shannin and Sarah with the Immunisation Week display in the waiting room

May 2-8th is Immunisation week and our resident artist, Sara Morris, with the help of Shannin Howe, has put up a display in the waiting room to highlight this. Immunisation Week is about raising awareness about the importance of immunisation to protect against serious illnesses. The theme of the 2016 Immunisation Week is Protecting baby begins at pregnancy. It has been great over the 27 years that we have been working with Kawerau families to see the dramatic drop in the incidence of illnesses like rubella and measles that were once regular epidemics to deal with and young doctors now have often never seen a clinical case of these illnesses. Since the introduction of haemophilus vaccine the cases of meningitis and ear infections have also dramatically dropped and the introduction of HPV vaccine will contribute to reduce future cases of cervical cancer..

See the Health Promotion Agency website for more information

Influenza Vaccines and Medical Student

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Medical student, Logan Callesen, learns skin surgery skills with Dr. Tony Whitehead.

Medical student, Logan Callesen, learns skin surgery skills with Dr. Tony Whitehead.

A reminder that the Influenza vaccines are now available. As always they are free to those 65 and over and many others who have chronic health conditions. Drop in to see our friendly nurses to get your vaccination done in preparation for winter.

Tarawera Medical Centre has a long history of being a popular attachment for medical and nursing students who enjoy the friendly team environment with the opportunity to gain a wide range of experiences. 4th year Auckland Medical School student, Logan Callesen, has just completed a 2 week run with us and was very appreciative of the usual welcome and generosity of our patients and staff. He experienced the full range of GP consultations, Rest Home rounds, learned hands-on practical skin biopsy and suturing skills as well as seeing some advanced skin cancer surgery procedures, had exposure to occupational medicine as well as visiting a pharmacy and physio practice. Logan has a wide range of interests including mountain biking and music, and judging from the brownies he made for morning tea, is pretty useful in the kitchen too. His YouTube channel shows some of his musical skills.

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to all our patients for a safe and happy New Year. Just a reminder that we are closed only for the stat holidays and will reopen on Tuesday 5th January.

Our regular patients will know by now that Dr. Louisa Barter is back from maternity leave and that Dr. Rachel Shouler, who provided cover during Louisa’s leave, has decided to stay on at the Tarawera Medical Centre. Rachel had been doing various locum jobs and has really enjoyed being part of our stable, supportive and collaborative team and she brings skills and experience that complement the other doctors well. She has proven very popular and already has a loyal following of appreciative patients. Like Louisa she is very experienced and it is nice to offer our patients the option of an experienced, well qualified lady doctor every day of the week. When you make a doctor’s appointment you can be assured that you will always be seen by a doctor and not expected to discuss your personal issues with a health care assistant with limited training. Our fully qualified nurses are also available for nurse appointments and will refer you on to a doctor if that is what is needed to properly manage your health issues.

Another reminder to stay sun smart in the summer. We have had a real spate of melanomas referred in from around the EBOP in the past few weeks and prevention is better than cure. If you notice any new or changing moles please get them checked as even melanoma if picked up early can be managed safely but if left too long can be devastating.

Merry Christmas

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Adelie_D814466-6x4Christmas

Wishing all our patients a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Tarawera Medical Centre will be open normal hours apart from the statutory holidays over the next 2 weeks. Check your medications to make sure that you have enough to cover for the holidays especially if travelling away. Email script requests can be made and we will fax your script to your pharmacy without punitive fax surcharges. As always when you make a doctor appointment you are always seen by a doctor. Happy holidays, travel safe if on the roads and remember to “slip, slop, slap and wrap” when enjoying the outdoors.