Whanganui District Health Board employs ophthalmologist from Washington state

Ophthalmologist Dr Heidi Eiseman has joined the Whanganui DHB and is loving Whanganui's pace of life so far. Photo / Bevan Conley

Nationwide, district health boards are struggling to appoint ophthalmologists but in Whanganui that void has been filled by newcomer Dr Heidi Eiseman.

Uprooting her life from Washington state where she has lived for six years, Eiseman is joined in Whanganui by her husband and two young sons and said they are loving the pace of the Whanganui lifestyle so far.

Whanganui District Health Board (DHB) has been without a permanent ophthalmologist since the end of October 2019 and used locums until the end of February.

"In this role, I'm really good at creating stability and efficiency which is something I hear has been desired in that department so I'm looking forward to creating that," Eiseman said.

She has always had a love for the eye alongside giving her patient population continuity of care, she said.

"I love that the surgery is really delicate and there's a lot of finesse involved and I love that you see the problems in the eye. There's no guessing or trying to extrapolate from tests, it's very visual."

One of her first priorities will be to learn the system and how things work, followed by listening to nurses within the clinic who have been there for some time.

"Just listening to what is needed and then really re-establishing within the community that, yes, we offer eye services and you're going to be taken care of well, because I think what happens when you have the instability is you get a lack of confidence."

She will also be working with the MidCentral DHB and would like to figure out how to channel Whanganui patients, who have been travelling to Palmerston North for treatment, back to Whanganui.

"To get both services in a symbiotic relationship, if everybody is stable and efficient and doing well, then it's going to benefit everyone."

She said MidCentral has also been affected by the shortage of ophthalmologists and has absorbed a lot of Whanganui's patients, adding to its workload.

Whanganui DHB's new ophthalmologist has signed a one-year contract. Photo / Lewis Gardner

While recognising New Zealand has a shortage of ophthalmologists, Eiseman said it is really a worldwide issue.

"Part of it is that people are living so much longer and the more they live longer the more people have these diseases and then you've got a higher burden on the ophthalmology community."

She said injections that are required for retina disease are very timeframe dependent and can be a huge burden on ophthalmologists.

"We're lucky in New Zealand because we have trained nurse injectors that help offload some of that burden but in America, they don't have that."

She said the governing body of ophthalmologists in New Zealand has increased training spots for registrars to help counterbalance the lack of ophthalmologists but it would be some time before there was an increase in ophthalmologists.

At the moment, ophthalmologists in New Zealand are trying to meet the needs of patients so they do not have to wait until cataracts and other eye diseases get too bad, she said.

Eiseman has signed a one-year contract but said if her children are doing well and enjoying the lifestyle they will stay on for another two to three years.

She and her husband had always talked about going abroad with their sons when they were around intermediate school age as she wanted them to experience life outside the United States and have a broader idea of what the rest of the world is like, Eiseman said.

At her book club in Washington state, Eiseman met former Whanganui DHB physician Dr Megan McChesney who talked about her love for Whanganui and the time spent in her role.

Eiseman and her husband started to look into places to live in New Zealand and she was offered multiple jobs around the country but decided on Whanganui.

"We wanted a small town, to be on the coast and Megan had such a positive experience here, when it came up we thought that's where we need to be."

Eiseman said the family loved all things outdoors and the pace of life in Whanganui.

"Before we had anything arranged, we had passes to Mt Ruapehu and last weekend we spent it surfing."