Dr Ian Abernethy at his desk in 1997 at the practice he shared with Dr Colin Wakefield in Joll Rd. Credit: Hawke's Bay Knowledge Bank/Abernethy family
Dr Ian Abernethy at his desk in 1997 at the practice he shared with Dr Colin Wakefield in Joll Rd. Credit: Hawke's Bay Knowledge Bank/Abernethy family
Dr Ian Alan George Abernethy FRNZOGP, who recently passed away aged 89, will be a familiar name to thousands of people who he served as a general practitioner in Havelock North for just over 40 years.
The population when he came to Havelock North was around 3500 people.
A medicalcareer almost did not occur as it was suggested he go into the family clothing business, but as this didn't appeal, "I decided to have a shot at getting into medical school."
During his studies, he met his future wife, Patricia, and they would marry two days after his final medical exam, of which he reflected later "I don't recommend to anybody".
Many of his peers were going to Australia and Canada to do this, and the later country had some appeal. But when Dr John Rea, a GP in Havelock North, put his thriving practice on the market to study to become a pathologist, they thought this opportunity was too good to turn down.
The plan would now be to start off in Havelock North, accumulate some savings, and then go overseas to study a specialty.
At about the stage Ian and Patricia had planned to do this, they had three young children, Malcolm, Ian and Lynaire (Duncan came later). The sensible thing, they decided, was to stay and carry on, especially as they enjoyed Havelock North.
The desire to further his knowledge, and therefore be of more service to his patients would be a strong motivation for Ian.
Before coming to Havelock North, he was at Palmerston North, and had an interest in anaesthetics. Upon investigating what maternity services were existing in Hawke's Bay before settling here, he noted there were no epidural anaesthetics here. Ian decided to go to Sydney to investigate epidurals at the Crown Street Women's Hospital.
However, not everyone was sold on epidurals in the medical profession here, and he would begin his anaesthetics first in a private hospital, before moving to the public hospital.
Ian would conduct anaesthetics for around 30 years, and the skills to administer this were later taken up by others.
He would deliver babies (including myself, who upon seeing him in the audience at a talk I gave to the Founders Society, remarked that I appear today courtesy of the excellent job Dr Abernethy did at my birth) for 20 years in his practice.
An achievement he was proud of was gaining entry at the hospital for fathers to attend births in the delivery theatre.
He spoke to Frank Cooper in 2015 saying: "And I think once you've heard a baby's first cry you would understand, because these little babies that have swivelled their way into this world arrive, and usually the first thing that happens is that they give a little cry, and it's always just wonderful to hear that little cry and the louder it is the better. And it makes up for getting out of bed in the middle of the night and driving down through the frost and getting changed and going in and spending an hour or two or whatever – and then being welcomed with this little cry."
Michael Fowler
Being interested in the wider aspects of the medical profession, Ian attended in England a meeting of the World British Medical Association, of which New Zealander Professor Douglas Robb (1899-1974), was president during 1961/2. At that meeting he was introduced to Lord John Hunt (1905-1987) who founded in 1952 the College of General Practitioners (which in 1967 was added the Royal prefix).
Ian thought the idea of a College of General Practitioners was worthy of joining as it had lifted the standard of GPs in England and was "a wonderful idea".
In time a New Zealand College of the Royal College of Practitioners was set up, which is the professional body and postgraduate educational institute for general practitioners. Ian believed in furthering education in your chosen field.
The technical aspects of medical equipment were of interest to Ian, and he explored the use of an electrocardiograph (ECG) (measures electrical activity of the heart) in his practice so in 1968 he was the first GP in Hawke's Bay to buy his own.
There wasn't a great use for this expensive piece of equipment in general practice, so he took it to the Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and set it up there, recalling in 2015 that he was sure they didn't have one then. This stirred up the hospital administration somewhat which decided after this they needed to look at purchasing equipment.
Despite his workload, he was active in the Havelock North Rotary Club from the beginning, which began in 1963, and would later initiate a charitable trust to contribute towards the costs of tertiary study for young people.
Many young general practitioners today would likely gasp at the responsibilities and workloads of Dr Ian Abernethy and his peers. Ian would be the first to acknowledge the support he received from wife Pat, during his 40 years in private practice in Havelock North.
- The material for this article was taken from an interview with the late Frank Cooper at the Hawke's Bay Knowledge Bank in 2015.
Thanks to the Abernethy family.
Michael Fowler (mfhistory@gmail.com) is a contract researcher, and writer of Hawke's Bay history.
