Health stalwart bows out

After more than 30 years working to better the health of Wairarapa residents, Trish Taylor is bowing out of local politics.
A staunch Masterton health promoter, Mrs Taylor has only a "couple of meetings" left at the Wairarapa District Health Board, a board that in one shape or form she has worked on since 1977.
A tireless and innovative campaigner, she was awarded a Queen's Service Order medal for her contribution to regional health, but has now decided to retire from governance and let younger faces have a go.
"I've still got the passion but I don't have the energy any more," she says.
Born in Invercargill in 1932, Mrs Taylor grew up in New Plymouth and Timaru, before moving to Masterton with her family in 1949.
It was here she trained to be a nurse at Masterton Hospital before going on to work at Christchurch's Calvary Hospital, the maternity ward at Tauranga Hospital, and Seacliff psychiatric ward in Dunedin.
She returned to Masterton where she met her husband Joe, a farmer from Blairlogie, with whom she had a son and three daughters.
Mrs Taylor says she only ever wanted to work in health.
"I have a passion for health. My mother was a nurse who did work in the community and I never wanted to be anything else."
Her first introduction to local politics came in 1977, when she was elected to the then Wairarapa Hospital Board as a Masterton County representative. When the board was amalgamated with the Wellington Health Board, Mrs Taylor served as deputy chair before "Simon Upton put in commissioners and sacked all the boards".
There followed a nine-year stint as deputy chair under Doug Matheson with the newly created Wairarapa Crown Health Enterprise in the 1990s, before her election to the Wairarapa District Health Board, a position she has held until today.
Mrs Taylor says she almost turned down the QSO medal for her service. "I was cross about it at the time. It was given at the time when we were all sacked. I nearly turned it down."
The many and varied roles she took on were tough, but as her husband was also working hard on the land and for Federated Farmers, both were kept busy doing jobs they loved.
Mrs Taylor says her biggest achievement was getting Wairarapa its own health board back from Wellington but there were many others: She served on the Masterton District Council, helped set up the Wairarapa's's first play centres, and helped forge one of the country's first iwi health contracts.
Looking back she has seen a lot of changes - many for the better, she says.
"Now there's a much wider vision of health and there's more work in the community.
"And when you look at the improvement in surgery and in medication over the past 50 years, it's just been incredible."
Just back from seven weeks in Europe with two of her daughters - including seeing the old family home in County Clare, Ireland - Mrs Taylor is planning on taking a big step back from local politics to enjoy spending time with her 12 grandchildren. The health board was in good hands, she said.