Don’t worry if you haven’t put in as much training as you had hoped for the annual Pat Farry Trust Fun Run & Walk taking place on the Wellington Waterfront on March 15, 2014. Help will be on hand as the event will feature a pre-race warm up led by members of the New Zealand Defence Force. More than 100 rural medical professionals are expected to take part and so assistance will be close by for any muscular blow outs. › Continue reading…

The last day of my elective has come around all too quickly. By way of Heathrow, Singapore and Christchurch, in 36 hours I will be back in Invercargill ready to start the final nine months of my medical degree. I’m not usually an anxious flyer, but I recently watched a documentary on how Gibraltar is the fifth “most extreme” airport in the world, largely due to the wind conditions and the four-lane road crossing the runway. To my relief, the wind has restricted itself to a gentle breeze, which amidst blue skies and puffy clouds provides the perfect conclusion to my time in Gibraltar. › Continue reading…

Wellingtonians and rural healthcare colleagues will walk and run to raise the profile of rural general practice and fundraise for the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust’s work when the annual Pat Farry Trust Fun Run + Walk takes place on the Wellington Waterfront on March 15, 2014. › Continue reading…

While in my last blog I rather dryly went through “A day in the life of Lady Willingdon Hospital,” in this blog I am hoping to reflect on some of the difficulties of practicing medicine in rural India. › Continue reading…

Our December 2013 Pat Farry Trust Newsletter has been sent to all our subscribers. If you would like to become a subscriber, please sign up here. Read on …

As 2013 draws to a close, we’ve taken time to look back on what has been achieved since the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust was established in March 2010. As time flies by, it is easy to lose track of achievements. This newsletter is a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the Trust to date. › Continue reading…

I had always thought that the first hospital experience I had on my elective would be treating a patient, as opposed to being a patient. Not to be. › Continue reading…

The 2013 Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to two University of Otago School of Medicine students who will travel to India, Nepal, Gibraltar and The Falkland Islands to further their rural health education.

John Farry, chairman of the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust, has announced that David Neynens and Rebecca Craw will both receive NZ$5,000 to assist their elective travel in the first term of 2014. › Continue reading…

The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust has announced application details for two significant scholarships worth a total of $30,000 to encourage undergraduate and rural health professional research and professional development.

“Scholarships offered by the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust assist young people to spend valuable time in innovative and challenging overseas situations, to return, and to become the new generation of idea generators here in New Zealand,” said Mr John Farry, Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Chairman. › Continue reading…

Organisers of the Pat Farry Trust Fun Run / Walk held in Rotorua on Saturday 16 March are thrilled that local support has resulted in the event doubling in size and participation since its first outing in 2012. The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Fun Run/Walk is held in association with the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network’s (NZRGPN) annual conference which was in Rotorua, 13-17 March this year.

Of the 180 entrants, more than half came from Rotorua and the wider Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions while the other entrants had come from all over New Zealand for the conference. In 2012, the event’s inaugural year, there were 70 participants. › Continue reading…

I cannot believe my time is over and I’ve now been home for a week!

Over my final week in the hospital, the harvest finished. Gone was any hope of having a quiet week! Now, everyone who had been unwell over the past 4 weeks converged on the hospital to get the medical treatment that had been avoided over harvest. › Continue reading…