Health awareness credit given

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 29, 15 December 1987, Page 5

Health awareness credit given

Community health watch committees can take credit for the increased public awareness of the importance of cervical screening. This is the message from the Wanganui Area Health Board who have given considerable backing to health watch committees in the Wanganui district. A number of committees have arranged Cervical Screening Clinics in their areas over the past 15 months, with varying degrees o f success. The Well Women's Clinic organised by the

Waimarino Community Health Watch Committee, held in Raetihi earlier in the year, was well attended. In response to the increased awareness and to the clinics arranged b y committees, the Wanganui Area Health Board set up a committee called the Health Screening Working Party. Its members are: Betty Bourke (WAHB Chairman), Bruce Beetham (WAHB Deputy Chairman), Roger Williams (NZMA representative), Merle Bradshaw (Public Health Nurse), Alan Mangan (Wanganui General Practitioner), Jonathon Hartfield (Obstetric and Gynaecol-

ogy Specialist), Kerry Hines (Planning Officer), and Patrick O'Connor (Community Health Doctor, and Group Convenor.) The purpose of the committee will be to advise the WAHB on how best to promote cervical screening in their region, working alongside family doctors and Community Health Watch Committees. The Waimarino Committee will be approaching the Department of Health for a grant to hold a cervical screening clinic i n Ohakune, similar to the one held in Raetihi, next year.