History was made on the 23 June with the inaugural eye clinic held at Te Puia Springs Hospital on the East Coast.
Te Puia Springs Hospital is probably one of the most unique primary health organisations in New Zealand being Māori-owned and operated by Ngati Porou. The hospital has a catchment area which covers more than 200km of coastline in one of the most remote areas of Aotearoa, between the Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay.
Patients from the East Coast present to Gisborne Hospital’s specialty clinics, not uncommonly with late and severe ocular disease. To provide earlier intervention, the inaugural Te Puia Springs eye clinic was planned over a few months, so thorough preparations could be made and patients carefully selected.
When it came time to hold the clinic, however, it was almost cancelled due to heavy rain the previous weekend which washed out the only road access from Gisborne. As it was, the ophthalmology team’s car was brought to a standstill by a herd of sheep crossing the road, reminding us just how rural this area is.
