With the summer holidays just around the corner, Waikato DHB is preparing for a surge in visitors to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Waikato DHB is teaming up with Hauraki iwi primary care provider Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki to provide a summer clinic, offering healthcare to all those who need it.

The clinic will be based at Thames Hospital from Monday 14 December (excluding weekends and statutory holidays) with Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki providing non-urgent services Monday to Friday between 8am and 4.30pm. No appointment or enrolment is needed. 

Thames Medical Centre will also continue to provide a Saturday emergency General Practice clinic at Thames Hospital ED from 9am to 3pm.  

All five Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki General Practice clinics and Thames Medical Centre will also remain open except for weekends and public holidays for casual and enrolled patients.

Thames Hospital Emergency Department will continue to operate 24/7 for emergency care. 

Any patient with COVID-19 symptoms or who requires a test should free call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 or Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki on 0508 835 676 first.

We're proud to work with our partners to help keep our community and visitors safe over the summer period.

Charges may apply for the summer clinic:

Notes:

•        Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki is a rural iwi-based, not-for profit, incorporated society providing health and wellness services across the region. Their services include doctor and nurse clinics, prevention, early detection, treatment and management, education, wellness care, mental health services, whānau support, health promotion and public health services  https://www.korowai.co.nz/

•        Thames Medical Centre provides a wide variety of general medical services as well as specialised nurse-lead services locally. The service offers an Emergency GP Clinic every Saturday throughout the year and some Public Holidays from 10am-4pm at Thames Hospital  http://www.thamesmed.co.nz/

Hapū Māmā and their whānau are invited to attend a hapū wānanga ki Tainui in Thames in November. 

Hapū Wananga is kaupapa Māori antenatal education that covers labour, birthing and parenting. It is designed to empower, strengthen and prepare hapū māmā and their whānau for baby and covers a range of topics from the stages of labour, birth and breastfeeding to safety for baby, post-natal care, parenting and relationships.

The Hapū Wananga is free and all hapū māmā will receive a māmā pepī goodie bag.

WHERE: Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, 210 Richmond St, Thames. 

WHEN:  26^th to 27^th of November 2020. 

TIME:  9.15am-3.30pm.

If you have any Hapū Māmā keen to join this kaupapa, please visit https://www.waikatodhb.health.nz/hapuwananga to register and for further information.

Hapū māmā and their whānau are invited to attend a Hapū Wānanga ki Tainui in Paeroa in October. 

Hapū Wananga is kaupapa Māori antenatal education that covers labour, birthing and parenting. It is designed to empower, strengthen and prepare hapū māmā and their whānau for baby and covers a range of topics from the stages of labour, birth and breastfeeding to safety for baby, post-natal care, parenting and relationships.

The Hapū Wananga is free and all hapū māmā will receive a māmā pepī goodie bag.

Noho Marae

WHERE: Te Pai o Hauraki Marae, 3 Papaturoa Ave, Paeroa

WHEN:  October 9 and 10 

TIME:  9.30am-3.30pm.

If you have any Hapū Māmā  keen to join this Kaupapa, please visit https://www.waikatodhb.health.nz/hapuwananga to register and for further information. 

September is Cervical Screening Awareness Month. If you book your smear in September you will go into a draw for a $200 gift voucher - there will be one 
voucher to be won in each of our Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki clinics in Thames, Paeroa, Te Aroha and Coromandel. Also, if you book your smear in September, you will go into the draw for a share of $300 of petrol or supermarket vouchers.

The screening programme is available to all women in New Zealand between 20 and 70 years old. The programme was set up in 1990 to reduce the number of women who develop cancer of the cervix and the number who die from it. 

It is estimated that up to 90 percent of cases of the most common form of cervical cancer could be prevented if women have a smear test every three years. Cervical smears are FREE to Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki clients.

Did you know that:

• Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable of all cancers. A woman's best protection against developing cervical cancer is having regular cervical smear tests.  A cervical smear test is a screening test to find abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix. 
• Cervical cancer is caused by certain types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a very common virus passed on by sexual contact. Most people will come into contact with HPV at some stage during their life.  Most HPV infections clear by themselves, but some high-risk types can cause cell changes on the cervix that may lead to cervical cancer 10 to 20 years after infection.  Other types can cause genital warts, but these strains do not lead to cancer.
• The vaccine does not protect against all HPV types; therefore, women who have been immunised must still continue to have smear tests.
• Regular cervical smear tests every three years are recommended for women, if they have ever been sexually active, from the age of 20 until they turn 70.
• Having regular cervical smears can reduce a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer by 90 percent.
• Without screening, about 1 in 90 women will develop cervical cancer, with 1 out of 200 dying from it, whereas with screening, 1 out of 570 women will develop cervical cancer, with 1 out of 1280 dying from it.About 160 women develop cervical cancer each year and about 50 die from it.
• Some kinds of cervical cancer are not caused by HPV, but these are very rare and are usually types of cancer that cervical screening tests cannot find early or prevent. They include cancer of the skin (melanoma) that has spread to the cervix and cancers of the muscles, nerves and connective tissues of the cervix.