LOGIC September 2017 Vol 16 No 3 | Page 11

RURAL MUSTER #4 Kate Stark – Nurse Practitioner A recent holiday to the Cook Islands was extremely thought provoking and reminded me that although rural New Zealand has challenges, we in New Zealand succeed in providing a rural health service that takes into account the challenges brought upon by being rural. While there, my daughter became really unwell and my immediate thought was would happen if she is too sick to be managed by available services on the island. A four hour plane flight could make a huge difference to the outcome. On mentioning this to a local in passing, her comment to me was that they look out for each other, and utilise the resources available, and they never take anything for granted. What a wonderful mantra to live by. The peoples of the Pacific could teach us a lot in rural health about September 2017 L.O.G.I.C utilising our services to the max and ensuring that the people around us are OK. Not only this, but they take everything in their stride, focus on what’s important and are grateful for every day. Winter has been brutal to say the least, with mother nature showing no mercy across the country. Rates of illness amongst health professionals has been higher than normal, whether it be an outbreak of gastroenteritis, the common cold, or flu-like illness. Rates of depression amongst rural people remains high, and sadly rates of suicide in New Zealand remain one of the highest in the Southern Hemisphere as mental health services struggle to meet population demand. Accessing health care remains key to achieving population health across rural communities. It is heartening to see such initiatives such as ’Farmstrong’ and ‘Good Yarn’ being taken out to rural communities as well as the work done by RHAANZ in the rural sector, in particular for mental health related conditions which can so often go unnoticed. Stigma has historically been a reason behind mental health concerns not getting reported or addressed by individuals and groups but times are changing. People are talking more about depression and suicide and such discussion has been made more acceptable through the introduction of the above mentioned programmes. This is fantastic progress for the health of all rural New Zealanders and should be applauded. We must 9