Close-knit team delivers results
A desire to come home and serve her people was what led Pettina Coates (Te Rarawa) to move from one of the country’s biggest hospitals to a little community practice in Kaipara at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kaipara Medical Centre has an enrolled population of 6400, within a largely Māori and high medical-needs community. Owned and supported by Auckland Primary Health Organisation ProCare, it is a small ‘‘very low cost access’’ centre that’s always been known as innovative and forward-thinking. Coming from her position as sonography and administrative services team leader at Starship Children’s Hospital, Coates is now practice manager at Kaipara Medical Centre and says she has been blown away by what the centre has been able to offer the township as a result of hard work and collaboration.
‘‘Kaipara and Helensville are small, semi-rural towns and without the resources that big cities have, so we’ve had to think outside the box’’ says Coates, who lives five minutes’ away from her practice.
‘‘We partnered with our local pharmacy and hired out the community hall to deliver vaccinations – this allowed us to keep the GP centre open for business as usual, while keeping up with demand for vaccinations for the local community. We sent team members out to meet people where they were, too – like the local childcare centres who required polymercase chain reaction tests (PCR tests) and supported schools and local businesses that needed their weekly surveillance test completed. We also have a strong connection with our local marae, where we’ve been able to host GP visits for whānau who feel more comfortable in this setting.’’
As the country grapples with the ‘‘long tail’’ of the outbreak, Coates says that thinking and acting more innovatively has meant the centre can now apply those traits to other issues.
‘‘We get great, supportive feedback from the community with new ways of working so we’ll continue to pursue fresh ideas.
‘‘For example, we’re looking at setting up a local men’s health group, and we’re about to trial a pop-up telehealth ‘pod’ that can be accessed outside normal hours, allowing patients to see a medical professional without visiting hospital.
‘‘The pod will be an initiative that we work on with the Helensville District Health Trust, who are another invaluable partner for us.’’
With just a small team beside her, Coates says her main concern during the Omicron peak has been staff welfare and the risk of burnout.
‘‘I have watched the team work at full capacity for months now and while it’s certainly brought us closer as a team, it’s also been a stressful and tiring time. We are proud of our new ways of working, but also all looking forward to a return to business as usual.’’