HEALTH AND WELLBEING ADVERISING FEATURE
After five and a half years at Thames Hospital, Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki have re-located their Whānau Health Centre services back to their main site at 210 Richmond St.
It was December, 2020, and our country’s borders were closed.
Summer was almost here and the annual seasonal influx of domestic tourists to Hauraki was predicted to be larger than ever.
Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki answered the call from Waikato DHB to provide support to Thames Hospital emergency department over the busy summer period, setting up a temporary summer clinic in Thames Clinical Centre, Mary Street.
Four weeks later, the number of patients needing treatment at ED had halved as our Whānau Health Centre stepped in to provide care to those identified as non-urgent – so effective that the service was extended for the rest of the summer, and has remained at the site ever since.
This collaboration with other health services – to bring a co-ordinated response to the unique challenges that the global pandemic posed in our area – was a fantastic example of our core value of whanaungatanga: what rural communities can do when we work together to deliver services, not only to our enrolled whānau, but to our visitors too.
Fast forward five years and we are facing new challenges that require a different approach, drawing on another of our core values – kotahitanga (unity).
Not-immune to nationwide health workforce shortages, the time has come to return our services to home base where the collective strength of our organisation can support our Whānau Health Centre to provide the manaakitanga (respect, generosity and care for others) that is at the heart of what we do.
DETAILS: Te Kauaeranga (Thames) Whānau Health Centre is now located at, 210 Richmond Street, Thames. Phone 07 868 0033 or FREEPHONE 0508 835 676.
– Supplied by Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki
