After being in his role for 12 weeks, Phil Jamieson, and his team, will host an Oamaru Hospital community open day next Saturday.
The open day event would provide an opportunity for a better understanding of the hospital’s services and to interact with staff.
Nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and social workers would be available to talk to, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Stroke Foundation and the Pasifika community would be represented. There would also be demonstrations of the surgical bus and the women’s health bus.
The Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter and St John ambulances would be on site for the community to view, and screening services would be available, too.
Mr Jamieson said it would be a lot of fun, and embodied his key initiative of getting people involved in his first few months in the job.
"That was clearly about the team, about the community, getting out and about, but what struck me really early was unless you see something, you kind of can’t experience it ... it’s far easier to show than describe."
Most team members were volunteering their time for the open day.
"We’ve got some great people that have been here a good amount of time, which is a testament to the organisation, and we have some new team members coming in ... through seeing, it will build the trust and confidence, in terms of what we are doing to promote health care in Waitaki."
It was vital the hospital was able to provide the right healthcare systems for the community.
"Most important thing for us is, if you look at [it] our core purpose, it is to provide sustainable, trusted, and quality health services to the Waitaki community.
"If you look at we have a lot in common with Dunstan and Clutha, Balclutha, but there is unique factors that we have a higher elderly population, Pasifika and different industry types and we really need to better understand the needs of our community so that our model of health case develops in the best way for them."
