5 minute read
ODE TO HEALTH
MATT SHAND, JOURNALIST
A living poem about the state of the public health system is being written by two doctors on an epic road trip.
Two doctors are driving across the North Island in an ‘arted-out’ ambulance to create a living poem about the state of the public health system.
Art Nahill and Glen Colquhoun have worked as doctors for more than 30 years but have become increasingly angered by the failure of successive governments to care for the public health system.
They have seen, and treated, patients who have fallen through the cracks as well as seen colleagues deal with stress and burnout. Now they are turning that anger into something positive by driving across the North Island to bring the voices of clinicians and patients to the steps of Parliament.
“For us, this is a way to turn art into action,” Nahill says. “It’s a way to channel our anger into something creative and something more positive. We’ve had our van painted up with the help of Nigel Brown, who is a veteran of lots of protests in his time, and he is someone well versed in using art to express anger and demonstrate the need for change.”
Their vehicle will leave Kaitāia on 26 April and travel to most major population centres in the North Island before arriving in Wellington on 8 May.
“Our van has been painted to look like a fanciful ambulance as a metaphor for the dire condition the health care system,” Nahill says.
“We’re advocating for a measured, data-driven, political redesign of the health care system to try and prevent people from becoming unwell.”
Nahill says that change will require a major rethink and a collaboration of ideas.
“As it stands, if you are unwell you go to your GP or, if there isn’t one, your emergency department,” Nahill says. “That’s where your health journey begins.
“There are lots of models internationally where workers in the community strive to maintain peoples’ health and do maintain it.
“We’ve seen that model work when we look at immunisations in Māori and Pacific communities.
And internationally, there are many models where a really active and robust community health engagement in the place where people live and work can pay lots of dividends in the long term.
“But part of the problem is that, because of our political cycle, we tend to not look in the long term. We tend to think of, okay, what’s the quick fix now? What can we do now? And while I’m all for training up more doctors and nurses, there’s nothing that’s going to change what draws them to Australia or draws them to the private system if we don’t change the public system.”
The team hopes to gather stories from patients, clinicians, nurses and anyone who has a view on what could improve the public health system.
“We want to hear from anybody who has a good story about their interactions with the health care system and, more importantly, gather their ideas as to what would make for a good health care system,” Nahill says.
“We don’t want to just gather gripes and grudges, there are plenty of those to go around. We need to move the conversation a bit towards what are some viable, creative alternatives to what we have now.
“We must make it clear to politicians that there are ideas out there and that people do care about the state of the health care system. Ignore us at your own peril.”
Health has become a major political talking point in the lead up to next year’s election, with polling showing it a hotly contested issue. The hīkoi will be taking documentary footage and archiving the stories they hear as they go.
“All parties have failed to look after the health care system,” Nahill says. “We will be gathering footage and anticipate there will be a larger body of work to turn all the archival footage of our trip into something longer and something more in-depth.
“We are lucky to have two amazing young women, Oriwa and Emily, making the journey with us to collect and document the stories and suggestions,” Nahill says. They represent the ideas, passion and promise of young people and will work to capture their concerns.
The trip is being funded out of their own pockets and whatever donations the pair can scrounge together.
“If people want to get involved, they might help us out with a place to stay or some petrol, a cup of tea or a chat,” Nahil says.
More information can be found at healthreformnz.org
Tour stops
Day 1 Saturday, 26 April: Kaitāia (morning), Kerikeri (afternoon/evening)
Day 2 Sunday, 27 April: Whangārei
Day 3 Monday, 28 April: central Auckland (morning), south Auckland (afternoon/evening)
Day 4 Tuesday, 29 April: Hamilton (midday)
Day 5 Wednesday, 30 April: Rotorua (midday)
Day 6 And on the 6th day they rested!
Day 7 Friday, 2 May: Gisborne
Day 8 Saturday, 3 May: Hawke’s Bay
Day 9 A driving day (and some more rest!)
Day 10 Monday, 5 May: New Plymouth (morning), Whanganui (afternoon/evening)
Day 11 Tuesday, 6 May: Palmerston North (midday), Levin/Ōtaki (afternoon/evening)
Day 12 Preparation for our trip to Wellington –the final push!
Day 13 Thursday, 8 May: Wellington, Parliament grounds (midday)
