Big-town solutions are not rural solutions, says Hawke's Bay District Health Board (HBDHB) candidate Charles Lambert.
He has a good grasp of health issues, both the detail and the big picture, and is no stranger to governance after sitting on his children's schools' boards of trustees, the former Wairoa primary health organisation, the Hawke's Bay Regional Council Maori Standing Committee and as a trustee of Ngati Pahauwera overseeing investments from its 2012 Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
He said access to healthcare was "definitely a problem" in Wairoa District.
Red Cross was contracted to primary health organisation Health Hawke's Bay to transport patients to Wairoa, so they could access health services such as GP visits, pick up prescriptions or catch a HBDHB bus to Hawke's Bay Hospital.
"It obviously works for them in the Bay because they have a lot of volunteers down there but I don't think they have the same number of volunteers here in Wairoa."