'Young Achiever' from Waimarino New doctor on way

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 28, 9 December 1986, Page 1

'Young Achiever' from Waimarino New doctor on way

The Bulletin joins the Waimarino in congratulating plucky Ohakune teenager Patrick Cooper on his success in the AGC Young Achiever's Award. Patrick. 18. could be described as Ohakune's keenest skier and all-round sportsman and he hasn't let the disability of an artificial limb stop him. Patrick has been skiing competitively for some years on a par with able-bodied skiers manv of whom he has beaten in a variety of events. He decided to applv for the Young Achiever's Award after encouragement from his mother and only just made the final date before applications closed 6n 30 September. Aftertwo months of waiting in anticipation and with some frustration he received notice from an official to appear in Wellington. "The phone call made my day," said Patrick. "We were told that we had to be available to appear for interviews on 27 November which was a Thursday and when 1 still hadn't heard from them by Friday night and received nothing in he mail. I thought I had missed out." The long awaited good news came through early on Saturday morning and Patrick was informed that the interview had been postponed until 2 December. So more waiting. He travelled by train to Wellington last Monday and met up with the eleven other young hopefuls who had been selected from the 356 applications sent in nation-wide. The young people aged 14-21, were treated to two nights in the up-market James Cook Hotel, courtesy of the Australian Guarantee Corporation. Tuesday was spent involved in interviews by a panel of judges. all of whom are achievers in their own right. They included lead singer of the Kiwi rock group 'Peking Man' Pat Urlick, All Blackhalf-backand Rhode's scholar Dr David Kirk, Sir Michael Fowler, dancer/ac-

tress Susan Trainor, New Zealand women's squash champion Susan Devoy, Nation-wide talk-back show host George Belarni and Maori Affairs lawyer Pauhne Kingi. Absent was the chief executive of Brierley Investments, Paul Collirr After lengthy deliberation. the judges finally decided that the quality of applicants was so high. all 1 2 finalists would receive a grant to further their respective aims and objectives. The Minister of Sport and Recreation and Patron of the- Young Achiever's Award. Mike Moore. presented Patrick with his certificate and praised all those who were successful. The original plan had been that one applicant would be chosen from each of the four categories: sport; the arts; academic and enterprise. Because of the large number of applicants, the total sum available swelled to $145,000 for the young achievers. The award was originally to have been a 'once-only' offer in association with the AGC finance company's anniversary but it proved to be so successful that the

\G( Young Achiever's Awaid will become an annual event as from this vear. Patrick applied for the grant in the hope of being accepted to enable him to travel to Winter Park in Colorado, which is described as the best disabled training centre in the world. From there he hopes to be included in the disabled skiing championships for the next Olympics, rumoured to be held in Austria in 1988. He will be in Colorado for four months and then intends to return to New Zealand and Ohakune, for the 1987 ski season. Patrick has been to Winter Park before when he made a trip to America and

Europe earlier this vear and was impressed with the very rigorous professional training programme available. His grant - the amount of which he was unable to disclose, plus the money he has managed to save over the last five months will enable him to stay in reasonable comfort during his visit. Patrick commented that it was hard to judge how much money to applv for as the applicants were not told what the sum total of the grant was. He spent some time calculating air fares and the cost of living in Winter Park for four months and his final application was based on those calculations. He intends to fly out of New Zealand on 26 December after spending some time with relatives in Auckland over the Christmas period. Good luck from all of us. Patrick!

Raetihi residents may soon have their own doctor after being without one since October. Dr James Eva from South Africa should arrive next week to take over the practice vacated by Dr Henry Plant. Raetihi patients have had to travel to Dr Perera's surgery in Ohakune or Dr Harvey's surgery in Waiouru for medical treatment, which has put pressure on these two practices. Prices Pharmacy in Raetihi has aiso been affected. Many of their customers are having their prescriptions filled at Waiouru or Ohakune. Dr Eva has been delayed in taking up his position while trying to sell his practice in Durban. Wanganui Surgeon Dr Charles Noble. who is liaising with Dr Eva. said last week that the doctor had found a buyer and would soon be on his way here.

Mr Noble said Dr Eva has obstetrics qualifications and is also familiar with the Raetihi area. Dr Eva worked at the Wanganui Base Hospital for a year in 1978. A temporary doctor had not been found for the practice in the meantime because of the uncertainty about the date of arrival of Dr Eva.