The health and wellbeing of Rakaia district residents has been supported by a $5k grant from the Rakaia Community Fund for three community projects.
The delivery of meals on wheels, the community transport service and a blood pressure (bp) machine at the Rakaia Medical Centre.
The Friends of the Rakaia Medical Centre, a subcommittee of the Rakaia Community Association, applied for the grant from the fund, which is administered by Advance Ashburton Community Foundation.
In total, Advance Ashburton granted $5792.70 for the three projects.
The Rakaia Community Trust were custodians of the centre for 20 years from its inception in 2000, keeping rural health services available to the Rakaia community.
It was purchased by Dr Sue Fowlie and her husband, Colin Steven in 2020.
Money from the sale of the practice was given to the community foundation to establish the Rakaia Foundation.
Its purpose is to support health and wellbeing, and the availability of primary healthcare and wellbeing facilities in the Rakaia district.
Friends spokesperson Nicki Kelly said the grants went to three very important projects in the community to support those in the Rakaia area with their health.
A portion of the grant will be used to cover the costs associated with collecting frozen meals from Methven House once a fortnight to distribute to those in Rakaia needing meals on wheels.
“The frozen meals used to come from the Ashburton Hospital but that service stopped so we had to find an alternative source for meals.
‘‘The number needing meals varies from week to week,’’ Kelly said.
Rakaia residents without a car or licence needing to attend appointments in Rakaia, Ashburton, Rolleston or Christchurch are able to use a transport support service operated by the Friends.
Some of the cost of providing this service will be covered by the grant.
“The $2000 grant enables us to help people get to their appointments and not have to wait around for shuttle service transport,’’ Kelly said.
Anyone one in Rakaia can now call into the medical centre and do a self-check blood pressure test thanks to the grant the enabled the purchase of a self-checking machine.
Rakaia Medical Centre owner Dr Sue Fowlie said this was a great gift for the community.
“It means people can call in when it suits them and they are calm and check their own bp. Or they could check it when they come in for another matter,” Fowlie said.
Anyone can use the machine, they don’t have to be enrolled with the practice, there is no need to make an appointment and it’s quick, simple, easy to use and provides an instant print out of results.
‘‘Some people don’t know they have a blood pressure issue so being able to do this check could help us pick up on this and address it before it leads to other health conditions,’’ Fowlie said.
“We thought providing this machine to the community would free up appointment times for those who just need their bp checked,’’ Kelly said.
Advance Ashburton executive officer Carolyn Clough said they were pleased to be able to make the grant for the bp machine as it enabled people to be proactive about monitoring their health.
“Those needing regular blood pressure checks will save money due to needing fewer appointments, and the regular readings can be recorded on patient files meaning that doctors can initiate appointments if necessary,” Clough said.
