Rakaia Medical Centre owner Dr Sue Fowlie is thrilled she has this month been able to enrol new patients.
For the past 18 months the books have been closed as Fowlie was the sole general practitioner and relied on locums.
Now she has three new staff, including two GPs.
‘‘We are trying to make it so there’s no barriers to care,’’ Fowlie said. Attracting GPs and other staff could be a struggle in rural practice.
‘‘We pushed really hard and did a lot of work on recruitment,’’ she said.
Te Whatu Ora and Waitaha Primary Health had helped with the process.
Now it was the first time in the history of the practice there had been as many as three GPs.
‘‘The population is growing, health needs are growing,’’ she said.
The two new GPs are Dr Ruud Raijmakerus and Dr Carmen Lageweg, both from the Netherlands for a period of one year.
‘‘We would be delighted if they extend that. What we are trying to do is show them that this is a good place to work and settle.’’
The third new staff member is practice nurse Mentin Jose, who is already a permanent resident.
Raijmakerus said he had chosen to come to Canterbury, as it was the perfect place to pursue his love of the outdoors and fishing.
The 36-year-old and his wife Audrey moved from their home city of Amsterdam with their 20-month-old.
They live in Christchurch and he began the new position at Rakaia in November.
‘‘We wanted to work and live abroad and New Zealand is a very attractive opportunity,’’ Raijmakerus said.
He needs to return to Amsterdam at the end of the oneyear period, as he is undertaking research as part of a team from the University of Nijmegen. They are looking into post-infection fatigue, finding out what drives the condition after illnesses such as Covid-19 and lyme disease.
He loved the area and hoped to come back to Rakaia Medical Centre in future.
‘‘It’s really like a community feeling which I get here, it makes it easy to communicate to people,’’ he said.
Lageweg has been at the medical centre since January.
The 31-year-old, with husband Koen and their two boys, aged three and one, live in Rolleston.
‘‘We needed an adventure, we both love working and living abroad,’’ Lageweg said.
She had tasted that in the past, having been to Aruba and Ghana as part of studying and working in the early years of her career.
Lageweg herself grew up in a small town, and has an interest in rural general practice.
She said she may end up going through an immigration process to either remain here longer than one year or return here.
‘‘I like it so far, I love the people – the hospitality from colleagues and also from the patients,’’ she said.
Jose is the practice nurse, having begun at the medical centre in October.
The 39-year-old lives in Rolleston with husband Nigil and their two boys, aged two and eight.
From India originally, she has been in New Zealand for 12 years.
She preferred to work in a practice, particularly a rural one such as Rakaia, rather than a hospital setting.
‘‘I love it – meeting new people daily, helping them, supporting them,’’ she said.
