New Turoa medical clinic of international standard

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 602, 5 September 1995, Page 8 (Supplement)

New Turoa medical clinic of international standard

By

Rachel

wllliams

After five years of planning Turoa has a brand new medical clinic. Lyn Davison who is the registered nurse in charge of the clinic says the clinic is "pretty amazing, on an international level our clinic is right at the top — most countries don't even have doctors let alone clinics on their ski fields." The new clinic is sunny, well equipped and in a great location - right next to the heli-pad and close to the other administration buildings. Lyn says the previous clinic started out as something else and consequently it was in a terrible location (next to maintenance) and very cold. The clinic is staffed by two doctors and two nurses, with one doctor and one nurse on duty each day. The service offered by the clinic is excellent, Lyn says, with ski area iniuries treated free of charge.

"If you do injure yourself on the skifield and require medical services, then you are really getting value for money, if you consider what the cost of seeing a GP is." If you require medical attention from non-ski injuries, for example asthma, the charge is $5. According to Lyn most injuries occur on Turoa during the school holidays "With kids going hell for leather — mid week can be busier than the weekend." A record is kept of what sort of injuries occur and where they are received. For example Turoa knows that a lot of injuries occur at the Wintergarden and in the Boneyard says Lyn. "Our records tell us where accidents occur, so management can make changes. We have built a first class medial clinic, but prevention is still the best cure!" advises Lyn.