Monthly medical clinic provides care to Pouto residents

Pouto Point resident Brian Malam is a regular visitor to the monthly pop-up medical centre in Pouto. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Once a month, grateful residents on the rural peninsula of Pouto make their way to Rangitane Hall, where they are provided with free medical care.

Long-term resident Brian Malam described the service as “excellent”.

He said living in an isolated community made accessing medical care much more difficult.

“You can’t get to a doctor, you can’t even ring a doctor,” he said.

The initiative is run through Te Hā Oranga, a Ngāti Whātua organisation which provides services to Dargaville, Helensville, and Wellsford.

It allows those who live in cut-off areas to access important care, including mental health and smoking cessation support, addiction help, access to screening services and more. Patients are also able to organise prescriptions.

Pouto resident Stephanie Barnes said the clinic was a reassurance for her, and said “the nurses are so good, they are really caring”.

She added the monthly clinic provided the “best place” to talk and catch up with community members.

“You always catch up with people that you haven’t seen for a bit,” she said.

A triage nurse at the clinic told the Advocate providing medical care to the Pouto community was essential.

“We do have some very sick people out here and down the point. For instance, Civil Defence couldn’t get to them, so it was really concerning, especially if you need dialysis or something like that,” she said.

She said getting access to patients was difficult during Cyclone Gabrielle, with roads entirely cut off and strong winds stopping access from above as well.

“I don’t even think the helicopters could fly. The wind was so strong, it was totally unsafe.”

She said during this time, one patient missed a single dialysis appointment. However, she was reassured at the effort from community members who could help while communication was at a minimum.

“We relied on whānau that live in the area that could stay in contact. Honestly, they’re just amazing, they just go and check on everybody.”

“We do as much as we can for them, and they do a lot for each other as well,” she said.