Global pandemic no barrier to Northland business expanding

Kaipara Ultrasound has expanded its business into Whangārei - next to Tui Medical in Maunu - after successfully opening in Wellsford during the height of the global Covid pandemic.

Opening a new business in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic was always going to be a big risk.

But that risk has paid off for Mangawhai couple Anna and Bradley Pope after they opened their business Kaipara Ultrasound in Wellsford in October 2020 and have now expanded to open another Kaipara Ultrasound in Whangārei - next to Tui Medical in Maunu.

Anna, a GP, and Bradley, a sonographer, decided to open their first business in Wellsford in October 2020 after spotting a gap in the market.

Anna said being pregnant the couple found there were not enough places to get an
ultrasound done so decided to start their own practice offering full ultrasound services.

She admits it was risky to start the business while the world was still grappling with the first peak of Covid-19, but its success had convinced them to expand the business into Whangārei.

''We are now open in Whangārei, and provide high quality diagnostic and obstetric ultrasound to this notoriously under-serviced area. We are a small, family-run business based in Northland,'' Anna said.

''We were made aware of the gap in radiology - especially ultrasound - services in the area, and are aiming to meet the needs of our local people.''

She said Northland is notoriously under represented when it comes to medical services and the company has seen a steady demand for its services so expanding was a good idea.

''We are excited to be able to expand after the success (of the Wellsford business) and fill a definite gap in the market here. I was pregnant at the time and going for an ultrasound was pretty hard, so that was part of the motivation. And Whangārei is very under serviced in the health field so having another service here can only help.

''We wanted to provide a service here and had the confidence in the business to do so. We pretty much continued right through (the global pandemic in Wellsford) so we know there's a demand.''

Kaipara Ultrasound also did ACC work and took referrals from GPs.

''While the world was going through the pandemic babies were still being born and people were still injuring themselves so the demand for our services continued.''

For more information check out the website www.Kaiparaultrasound.co.nz or email admin@kaiparaultrasound.co.nz.

■ Diagnostic ultrasound is a non-invasive diagnostic technique used to image inside the body. Ultrasound probes, called transducers, produce sound waves that have frequencies above the threshold of human hearing (above 20KHz), but most transducers in current use operate at much higher frequencies (in the megahertz (MHz) range). Most diagnostic ultrasound probes are placed on the skin.

Diagnostic ultrasound can be further subdivided into anatomical and functional ultrasound. Anatomical ultrasound produces images of internal organs or other structures.

Functional ultrasound combines information such as the movement and velocity of tissue or blood, softness or hardness of tissue, and other physical characteristics, with anatomical images to create "information maps".

These maps help doctors visualise changes/differences in function within a structure or organ.