$15m plan for fast diagnoses
Tureiti Moxon has a $15 million plan she hopes can save lives by providing affordable diagnoses before people are ‘‘nearly dead’’.
It is a low-cost, possibly free, X-ray centre in the Hamilton suburb of Enderley, which will also house a primary health team, a carving school, and training or community space.
A cervical cancer self-screening device is anticipated to be in the whare and other diagnostic services, such as a medical lab, are a possibility. The Te Ko¯ hao Health managing director is fundraising and getting her ducks in a row but hopes early and affordable access to such a centre could bring down the number of Ma¯ ori dying from preventable diseases. At the moment, X-rays are only free for people sick enough to be admitted to hospital, Moxon said, but her vision is to make them free for those who need them most.
She envisages Te Ko¯hao owning and running the building but hopes for support from Waikato District Health Board until the organisation builds expertise. ‘‘It is a win-win situation whereby they are getting to the people who are hard to get to, and we are getting them early, not waiting until they are nearly dead.
‘‘The five biggest killers of Ma¯ ori are breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, cardiac disease ... and the other one is colon cancer.
‘‘A lot of these things, if they are seen early enough or dealt with early enough, or diagnosed early enough ... the chances of survival are pretty good.’’ But X-rays to aid diagnosis ‘‘are expensive if you are on a benefit and don’t know where your next meal is coming from’’, she said.
Te Ko¯hao aspires to a fast-track diagnosis model seen in a private Auckland surgical centre, which does in 45 minutes what might otherwise take weeks. Auckland’s MercyAscot has a one-stop diagnostic clinic model to speed up diagnosis and avoid the need for multiple appointments.
‘‘You have the radiologist, the pathologist and the surgeon in the room at the same time,’’ Moxon said.
‘‘The radiologist will do the X-rays. The pathologist, they will take any swabs or things, and it can be seen straight away. It is quick. It is not a process that takes three months. And you can actually know if you have got something to worry about or not.’’
Hamilton’s proposed centre would cover health, wellness and diagnostics, Moxon said. It is planned for an empty piece of land in Tennyson St, opposite the marae-based provider’s two early childhood centres – among the community. ‘‘We would be the first Ma¯ori provider in the country to do this and hopefully that will be something that will be a normal place to go, ordinary ... We don’t want it just to be a one-off.
‘‘While our focus will be Ma¯ori, anyone can come.’’
Moxon hopes to start building next year but still has to find the money.
Inside the building would be a primary health team and X-ray department, as well as space for health training or community events, and a carving school. Other diagnostics – such as a Pathlab medical laboratorytype facility – would be considered but would depend on the support available, she said.
Chibnall Buckell Team Architects has drawn up plans and Moxon is doing the rounds of funders.
She hopes it can attract Provincial Development, shovel-ready project, and Lotteries funding.
Investigations into soil, water and traffic have been done, and Te Ko¯ hao is almost ready to apply for resource consent from Hamilton City Council.
Moxon hopes to build in 2022.