Otago Daily Times

Paediatric­ian retiring

- ALEX MCLEOD

LONGSERVIN­G paediatric­ian Roland Broadbent has called time on his career after four decades of work.

Associate Prof Broadbent marked the end of his 40year career with a celebrator­y afternoon tea in front of friends, family, and colleagues at Dunedin Hospital yesterday.

Prof Broadbent said his first job in Rotorua fired his passion he for the profession.

‘‘We had a lot of young chil dren with pneumonia that year,’’ he said.

‘‘It was really rewarding, seeing them come in rather flat, flushed, and feeling sorry for themselves, and giving them simple penicillin, and seeing them in a day [as] different people and going home healthy.

‘‘I was very attracted to the idea of looking after children.’’

Since then, Prof Broadbent had gone on to work across the globe, plying his trade in the Taranaki, Auckland, Adelaide and Edmonton before settling in Dunedin in 1987, where he has worked for 31 years.

Additional­ly, he has been involved in dozens of academic publicatio­ns involving neonatal medicine and neonatal pharmacolo­gy.

Prof Broadbent said the satisfacti­on of the job on a daytoday basis was the biggest reward of his career.

‘‘The reward of the job is having a cohesive unit where families can always receive confident and competent care.’’

Parttime work for the University of Otago beckoned as he enters retirement, as it would allow him more time to spend with his grandchild­ren and tend to the animals on his Saddle Hill property, Prof Broadbent said.

❛ I was very attracted to the idea of looking after children

 ?? PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON. ?? Childfrien­dly . . . Paediatric­ian Roland Broadbent holds his grandson Harry Broadbent (1) of Dunedin at a function to mark his retirement after 40 years.
PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON. Childfrien­dly . . . Paediatric­ian Roland Broadbent holds his grandson Harry Broadbent (1) of Dunedin at a function to mark his retirement after 40 years.

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