Why Move to Gisborne
She came, saw, loved it and ...stayed 
It was only supposed to be a six to 12 month overseas adventure.
But four years on, Tairawhiti District Health’s Clinical Nurse Specialist – Respiratory a Natasha Ashworth is still here.
Born in Nottingham, England, Natasha left school at the age of 16 with no clue what to do with her life, apart from having an interest in medicine.
So she decided to become a nurse and enrolled at University, qualifying in the year 2000.
By self admission Natasha had a “lovely life in the UK”.
She was working in general practice, doing post graduate training, working in diabetes, asthma and breast and cervical screening and later becoming a chronic disease specialist nurse working for a primary care trust and setting up and maintaining chronic disease clinics.
But she and her husband Rob wanted something more.
“We thought the time had come to try life somewhere else for six to 12 months so the challenge was to find where that somewhere was,” says Natasha.
“And New Zealand was the perfect place. It was English speaking, met our requirements and I had a friend who I trained with who had recently moved to Gisborne.
“I had a look at the TDH website and liked what I saw,” she said.
So they packed up their two children, Myles (9) and Madelaine (6) and headed for New Zealand’s East Coast.
Natasha started work at TDH in 2004 as a general nurse before moving out into the community and working for a Primary Health Organisation in chronic disease management.
This gave her a great insight into Maori health and culture, she said.
One year later she returned to TDH as the Respiratory Care Co-ordinator.
“We realised after about four months in Gisborne we would not be returning to England. We were really welcomed into the community and almost instantly had a larger group of friends than we had in the UK,” says Natasha.
“The preschools and schooling is fantastic and we just fell in love with the landscape and beauty of the place,” she said.
“I also love working in a DHB of this size. There are opportunities to really go somewhere with your career and it is an organisation that is open and willing to move forward and try new things.”
Natasha and Rob are settled in Gisborne and are not looking to move anywhere in the future.
They have bought a house – complete with chickens – and enjoy the relaxed, laid back lifestyle.
“There are not many places like Gisborne,” says Natasha.
“And nowhere where we would rather be.”
From the Highlands of Scotland to New Zealand's sunny East Coast
 When Tairawhiti District Health’s Chief Medical Advisor first came to New Zealand it was the beginning of a love affair with the country he now calls home.
More than a decade after leaving his Scottish homeland, Dr Bruce Duncan has no regrets, in fact he believes it is one of the best moves he’s made.
Bruce and his wife both trained as GPs in Scotland. The day after marrying, they “came out” to New Zealand in 1988 to see how the other half lived.
“We had our honeymoon on the way. Having no connections with New Zealand, we sometimes wondered what we would think. We fell in love with the place,” he said, "and had planned to spend a couple of years here”.
However, they returned to Scotland after a year in Te Kuiti, as Bruce had been offered a training post in Public Health medicine: “an offer I couldn’t refuse!”
But their return home lasted only a few years as their love for New Zealand won them over.
“Our two daughters were approaching school age and we wanted to make a lifestyle change so we decided to return to New Zealand and make it our home,” said Bruce.
After narrowing their destination down to the North Island’s East Coast, the couple had Gisborne and Napier on the top of their list.
Within 10 days TDH had made a job offer and Bruce gladly accepted.
That was in 1997.
More than a decade on, Bruce continues to love his work, Gisborne and TDH as an organisation.
“It’s great. We love it here. Gisborne offers the perfect environment to bring up children and we love the community and the lifestyle,” he said.
“It’s a pleasant place to live and work. It’s got a championship golf course, surf breaks to die for and you can be as much of the community as you wish.”
Bruce fondly refers to Gisborne as the “five minute city” that is just one hours flight from Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand’s two largest cities.
“In Gisborne, it is only five minutes to get anywhere and yet we’re only 60 minutes away from the metropolitan centres. We’ve got the best of both worlds,” he says.
From a clinical perspective, Bruce says TDH has a lot to offer.
There is a modern hospital environment and the chance to really immerse yourself in a bi-cultural environment.
“You are given the ability to make change and to do things because it isn’t a huge organisation and the environment is such that people are willing to try new things,” he said.
“There is also the opportunity to really get to know your colleagues across the spectrum because people are accessible.”
So would Bruce recommend the move to TDH?
“You bet.” |
