PRESS
RELEASE
25
July 2005
For
immediate release
MSS
bus operation in Golden Bay welcomed by Rural Women
New Zealand
Rural
Women New Zealand (RWNZ) welcomes last week's announcement
from Nelson Marlborough District Health Board that
the Mobile Surgical Services bus will soon begin
visiting Golden Bay , after the DHB agreed to make
funding available for both the set up and annual
costs of the service.
This
follows an 18-month campaign by RWNZ Golden Bay
, spearheaded by Provincial secretary, Jo-Anne Vaughan,
to see Takaka included in the high-tech bus' operating
schedule.
Surgeon
Stu Gowland of Mobile Surgical Services said the
introduction of the service to rural areas relies
on communities taking ownership of the project.
Working
in partnership with the Community Board and the
Golden Bay Community Health Group, Jo-Anne Vaughan
carried out a survey of local health professionals
to gauge their support for the proposal and arranged
a familiarisation visit by the bus last December
- a visit that also served as proof of the bus'
ability to travel over the challenging Takaka Hill.
“It
makes life much easier for us when there is a champion
in the community. Jo-Anne Vaughan was the chief
organiser in Golden Bay and was absolutely superb,”
says Stu Gowland.
Official
recognition of the need for mobile surgical services
can also be attributed in part to a significant
national rural health survey carried out by RWNZ
in 2001, which drew attention to the problems rural
people have in accessing services.
In
its first phase, the MSS bus will bring day surgery
services to the district, to be carried out by local
nurses with support from surgeons in Nelson and
Golden Bay . Later the technology will be expanded
to provide video links for GPs, enabling them to
confer with colleagues in other parts of the country
and the rest of the world.
The
Golden Bay project is now moving into its implementation
phase, with nurses receiving extra training from
Mobile Surgical Services to carry out day surgery
procedures. Modifications will also be made to the
Takaka hospital electricity supply and entranceway
to accommodate the bus.
It
is hoped to begin offering day surgery in Takaka
this summer.
For
further information contact:
Sherrill
Dackers
President
– Rural Women New Zealand
(09)
437 0572 or cellphone 021 103 7795
Or
Jo-Anne Vaughan
Secretary
Golden Bay Provincial – Rural Women New Zealand
(03)
524 8072
Email:
javn@xtra.co.nz
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