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When Dr Warwick Palmer was invited to join a new medical practice starting at Snells Beach, he came up from Auckland, took a look at the consulting rooms and said he might be willing to “give it a year”.
As it turned out, he loved practising as a GP for Kawau Bay Health so much that he stayed for the next 35 years, working from both Snells Beach and Warkworth.
“It’s a really lovely area to live and work and play,” he says.
On April 7, a “Community Appreciation” event will celebrate Dr Palmer’s 35 years of service and pending retirement.
During his early medical career, Dr Palmer toyed with the idea of becoming an anaesthetist as well as a general practitioner, but gave up the idea when it became clear he could not do both.
He says anaesthesiology would have satisfied his technical interests in medicine, but he remains a people person at heart.
Dr Palmer says his satisfaction comes from providing continuous care over time and getting to know patients and their family’s intimately during that process.
“There is a handful of families where I have cared for four generations at the same time, and that is a pretty rewarding and satisfying experience,” he says.
Also rewarding has been teaching medical students through the years, since Kawau Bay is a major teaching practice.
He adds that the practice has benefited from a great group of partners and a superb nursing and administration team.
Nevertheless, Dr Palmer says working in an area where there is no general hospital in the immediate vicinity has presented challenges.
He has never lost a patient because of the distance to hospital, but there have been occasions where his “heart was in his mouth” when dealing with acute cases.
Once he had to order an ambulance from National Women’s Hospital that had to battle rush-hour traffic to attend an obstetric case where the mother was bleeding heavily.
“I forget the exact time frame, but it seemed like a hell of a long time coming,” he says.
Fortunately, the ambulance turned up in the nick of time and both the mother and her baby survived.
Dr Palmer finds it difficult to say whether people are healthier now than they were 35 years ago.
Treatment of conditions such as heart disease and asthma are much improved. On the other hand, the stresses of modern life have seen an increase in anxiety, depression and suicide.
“The expectations on many of us are often beyond our ability to deliver,” he says.
Dr Palmer prefers the word “regroup” to “retirement” and is planning for many active years ahead, including plenty of sailing and managing his 5-acre property in Martins Bay.
Later this year, he hopes to sail to Chile in a friend’s 66-foot Ocean Greyhound.
In addition to his medical colleagues, Dr Palmer is especially appreciative of his wife, Margaret.
“There have been ups and there have been downs. She has been very much there in the downs. A rock beside me,” he says.
The Community Appreciation for Dr Palmer will be held at Mahurangi Community Centre, Saturday, April 7, at 2pm, followed by afternoon tea. Please bring a plate. All welcome.
Info: Dave Parker dh.parker@xtra.co.nz; 09 425 5006.
