On The Up: Working mums launch Dannevirke Family Health

For many working mums, life is a “juggling act” between balancing a career and home life, and fitting in after-school activities with kids, time becomes even more precious.

No one knows this better than four Dannevirke healthcare professionals who decided it was time to reclaim time with their families and boost healthcare opportunities in Tararua at the same time.

Doctor Laura Andrews, community nurse prescribers Sarah Henman and Kelsey Brown and practice manager Tania Last say they are on the verge of seeing that happen with their practice – Dannevirke Family Health – due to open at the end of the month.

A community open day will be held at the practice at 40 Denmark St on May 24 from 10am to 3pm, and the facility will officially open to the public on May 26.

The women formed the idea in December because they wanted to create a work opportunity that fit their lives as professionals, as mums and for one as a grandparent.

Tararua women Laura Andrews (left) with Kelsey Brown, Sarah Henman and Tania Last are due to open their new health care facility in Dannevirke.

Brown and Henman, the pair who were the original driving force, approached Last and Andrews with the idea, and together they have worked tirelessly to bring their vision to life.

They were told it would take around six months to open their own practice, so they got to work.

“Sarah and I had always said to each other we wanted more, we had both been in a great job ... but we wanted to go further,” Brown said.

Andrews said health care was a busy profession to be a part of, and the women recognised the need to better their situation.

“We have a little bit less flexibility because when you have patients booked in, you can’t just take the afternoon off to go to sports events.”

She said they were excited to arrange their days to attend after-school activities, and had even created space at the practice for their kids to hang out when needed.

“We wanted to set up a practice that is very family-focused for ourselves, to get a good work-life balance, but also be focused on the families within our community.”

Their practice will offer a variety of services, which include general practice, women’s and men’s health, sexual health, minor surgeries, scripts and referrals, and driver’s licence medicals, as well as immunisations and long-term chronic health management.

“We also have acute management for on the day when people become unwell, and injuries, we will be able to manage that as well.”

Andrews said the state of health care in Dannevirke and wider Tararua was similar to the rest of the country.

“We haven’t got enough general practitioners, doctors ... the number of people in New Zealand is increasing.”

She said they wanted to become an attraction for healthcare workers to move to the town.

“We are struggling with getting clinicians and so the patient healthcare suffers because of that,” Andrews said.

She said that from the start of June, they would have another female doctor join the team alongside another community nurse prescriber as of mid-June.

“We are going to start small and get our head in the game, figure out our processes, and how everything works and then look at slowly expanding.”

Last said, one of their more important goals for the practice was to make their health care accessible and affordable.

“We have done some work on looking at what other practices charge and are on par with them.”

“We want our patients to have access and be able to afford to come to us.”

Enrolments for the practice will be available from the open day.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.