Service director appointed for Golden Bay's integrated family health centre
The Golden Bay Integrated Family Health Centre has its first service director. Rhoda McDonald, currently the chief executive officer of the Kowhai Health Trust, the Primary Health Organisation in Lower Hutt, will arrive in the Bay in early December to take up the position.
Ms McDonald says that, having led an integration project in a "not too dissimilar community" once before, she is looking forward to the challenge and opportunity of her new position.
"The project was the integration of services in Kapiti in the early 2000s. It had its ups and downs of course, but the final outcome was really good.
"Everyone is interested in health. The challenge for us is to bring together all the different understandings of what that might mean and turning them into something that can be practically achieved."
Nelson Bays PHO CEO Andrew Swanson Dobbs said that he was delighted to be able to attract someone of Ms McDonald's calibre to the crucial service director's role.
"She will be a fantastic asset. She is very highly regarded, has vast experience in similar situations and is very well qualified - as well as having that ability to work with people, professionals and the wider community alike."
Ms McDonald has been keeping an eye on our integrated health project via The GB Weekly and says she is looking forward to moving here with her husband Graeme.
"We have been to the Bay before and I thought it would be a great place to live and work. When I was there as part of the interview process I was simply blown away by how friendly everybody was. No one knew who I was but everyone was wonderful and very welcoming. I decided quite quickly that this is where I want to be."
Graeme and Rhoda will be formally welcomed to the community at a powhiri at Onetahua Marae on 5 December. They will be looking for somewhere to live, "somewhere where I can get my hands dirty and grow some veges”.
The whereabouts of her actual place of work is yet to be determined.
"Of course the integrated family health centre building doesn't exist yet. That's what my new job is mostly about, for a start. I'm sure we'll be able to find a working space for me somewhere. My needs are not great."
Neil Wilson
