Churchill Private Hospital Trust’s newest community trustee hopes more Marlburians will become aware of the value Churchill offers to the region’s medical services.
“My impression is that there’s a lot of people who don’t know about the huge benefits of the hospital and the Trust to Marlborough,” says Dr Elizabeth Morgan, who is also palliative medicine specialist based at Marlborough Hospice.
“Churchill should be recognised for its quality of care; the variety of surgical options available; the fact there’s no need for Marlborough patients to go over the hill to Nelson for private surgical care, or to Wellington or Christchurch for that matter.
“The more that people use Churchill Private Hospital and Specialist Centre, the more that Churchill will be able to provide for Marlborough, and that’s a win-win.”
Beth names the new state-of-the-art surgical theatre built by Churchill in 2018, which is used by both Churchill and Wairau Hospitals, as a great example of the quality of healthcare available in Marlborough.
“That suite is spectacular and provides a state of the art operating theatre for surgeons.”
Beth, originally from the USA, joined the Churchill Private Hospital Trust about eight months ago and greatly values the experience and knowledge she is gaining about New Zealand’s healthcare system.
She says the setup is very different from that in America, “in a very good way”.
“The whole health system is new to me so I’ve had to learn a lot about the business of medicine to be of help on the Trust. I find it really fascinating and challenging as I have always been fascinated by the bigger picture outside clinical delivery of medicine.”
Beth moved to Marlborough in 2017 after four previous visits to New Zealand with her partner. They first arrived for a holiday and medical conference in 2004, and quickly realised they wanted to live here.
“We were just enchanted with New Zealand.”
When Beth was offered a position at Marlborough Hospice, she jumped at the chance to live in Blenheim, which is a larger town than where she lived in New Mexico, but, happily, without the commute to the city for work.
“I can ride my bike to work here, that is a huge bonus.”
Beth’s career began in family medicine before specialising in geriatric medicine and then palliative and hospice medicine, which led to the establishment of her own private house call practice.
Now, she is one of three physician owners and Chief Financial Officer of the large Hospice of New Mexico. Beth says this experience in operating and managing a large company, combined with her medical experience and day-to-day knowledge of how a hospital operates, is proving helpful in her role as Churchill trustee.
“As far as Churchill goes, helping them to expand their services is a pretty keen interest of mine. We have discussed a recent strategic plan to hopefully achieve more recognition in the community not just with potential patients but also for referring doctors.”
Beth hopes more Marlburians, including its medical community, will learn about Churchill’s high quality of care and attention to detail, so this knowledge can be spread organically by word of mouth.
“People should know that the high marks Churchill is getting from patients in the feedback is well deserved.”
“Helping our community to understand what options are available for them is a key to success for any private hospital.”
