Pete Chandler, the new chief executive of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. Photo / George Novak
Pete Chandler watched a person have hip replacement surgery on his first day as a theatre practitioner.
"Within five minutes, I fainted."
It did not bode well after he had just chosen a career working in operating theatres.
"But I was told that once you've done it once you'll be fine thereafter, and I was."
It was 1986 and he still remembers the smell of phenolic disinfectant filling his nose as he took his first step through the doors of the hospital that day.
"It was banned years ago because it's carcinogenic but we used to slosh it everywhere."
Thirty-four years ago Chandler was in the bottom ranking of the operating room floor. Now he sits in the top chair of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board as chief executive.
"I love working clinically, it was most rewarding and I miss it sometimes but now I just consider it a real honour and I'm very fortunate to have the leadership responsibility."
The Englishman's journey in medicine started when he left school. Chandler had set his dreams on becoming a press photographer but jobs were few and far between so he kept his eye on any vacancies.
"What suddenly caught my eye was a trainee theatre practitioner position that came up at a local hospital and I'd studied medical science from my A-Levels back in the UK.
"Healthcare was intriguing to me."
For 12 years, Chandler practised clinically, specialising in major trauma and cardiothoracic surgery.
In that time he met his wife, a professional singer - and Chandler was a musician himself, predominantly playing piano but dabbling in the saxophone and guitar. The pair hit it off.
Chandler even spent time on the side in music production, creating backing tracks.
"I thought that would be a way to make some money while I was in the early stages of my career and earning next to nothing.
"It wasn't," he laughs.
Another venture he had to make ends meet was a business in buying, fixing up, then selling cars.
While he spends a lot of time in meetings and answering emails these days, Chandler has a bucketful of skills to keep him busy.
Even now, he likes to spend his weekends with his "hands in the ground" on his section. That's if he hasn't buried his head in his other passion, genealogy.
Back in the UK, when both Chandler and his wife's parents died, the couple decided it was time for a change and a job as a chief operating officer at Hutt Valley and Wairarapa health boards arose in 2011. Chandler and his wife packed their suitcases.
In 2014, he moved up to the Bay for the same position.
"In this DHB I saw immense potential because of the appetite for what could be, in the health system. There's a lot of ability to shape what the future could look like in the Bay and a strong willingness to do so."
Chandler is ready to do the hard graft with his appetite for change - although he is mindful of the year the country has had.
He has a firm commitment to achieving health equity for Māori and rural communities and also has a vision for building a globally renowned model of child health and wellbeing services across the Bay of Plenty.
"It's been a tiring year for people so I'm mindful of not wanting to create unnecessary drama in a year that's been a real challenge, one of the greatest challenges I think with Whakaari as well."
Chandler sees population growth as the biggest challenge for the health board.
New figures from Statistics NZ show the region is the fastest-growing in the country a 2.7 per cent average growth per year between 2013 and 2019.
Chandler said the health sector could not keep up with population trajectories.
"We need to get reorganised and start to actively shape how we want healthcare to be delivered in the future.
"We don't want to keep building buildings when a lot of the care that we have historically provided could be in communities."
Chandler said his aim was for the healthcare system to move outwards. He believes the health board can work toward a more connected healthcare system that's easy for people to access.
When he first immigrated, Chandler naively thought he could apply the UK's principles to the New Zealand health system.
"I grew up in an environment in the UK where it was very multicultural and in healthcare, there was a lot of teaching about multicultural aspects of care and providing safe care."
But not long after his foot touched New Zealand soil, Chandler began his journey of understanding and accepting his ancestors' actions in colonising the country.
"Connecting with some of the iwi, particularly in the east where we've been very much welcome to feel part of, I not only understand more as a healthcare leader. But I am more.
"I'm a richer person, and I've got a different perspective on the world, and on life and on what matters."
However, a growing population means rising expense. Unaudited financial results for the year have come out at $23,676,000 which is an "unfavourable" $13.2m against the budgeted deficit.
Although the health board received the biggest increase in funding for the past financial year, Chandler believes the board is still running behind because of the ever-growing population.
"I think if we look at the size of our deficit here as a proportion of the money we get each year it's relatively small, it's less than 1 per cent.
"And if we look at the general measures of efficiency, we are particularly efficient, we are one of the most efficient providers in the country for our population size, so those give us some comfort."
Chandler believes the health board can break even in the next year.
He said one of the positives to come out of the pandemic had been improved communication between various sectors, including the Ministry of Social Development, police and the Ministry of Education.
"Through Covid and through Whakaari, we've probably seen a much greater role for ourselves in working alongside others to promote well being in communities and in society as a whole and that's probably part of our future direction of travel."
Chandler said exciting years lay ahead. He was not going to lose sight of the visions he had when he was vying for the role, even when the day-to-day tasks could push them back to the depths of his mind.
"We are all taxpayer investments, each one of us and so I feel that responsibility really acutely to use our time and resource well."
A set menu of cold meats, roasted veges and desserts will be served by volunteers.