Patient book's GP, kuia to speak at conference

SUCCESS: Bay of Islands GP Chris Reid with his book, Patient: Portraits from a doctor's surgery, featuring Te Tii kuia June Heihei on the cover. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF

A doctor and a kuia from the Bay of Islands will give a joint presentation at a general practitioners' conference this weekend about the impact of a ground-breaking Northland book.

Chris Reid, who works at Kerikeri Medical Centre and lives in Russell, spent two years photographing hundreds of patients as they visited his surgery.

Image 1 of 5: PHOTO / Chris Reid

About 150 of the best portraits were published last year in a book called Patient: Portraits from a doctor's surgery. The images have also been exhibited in the Bay of Islands and Auckland.

The book was a huge success and even made the non-fiction best-seller list last Christmas. All royalties are being donated to St John in the Mid North.

Now Dr Reid and June Heihei, from the Maori settlement of Te Tii, have been invited to the annual conference of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners in Hamilton this weekend.

Mrs Heihei features on the cover and is described in the book as a "symbol of our community ... who seems to know everyone, treating all with compassion and respect".

Dr Reid said the College had paid for Mrs Heihei to fly to Hamilton. It was rare for a patient to attend the conference, let alone deliver a presentation.

"It's a really lovely thing they're doing," Dr Reid said.

They will talk about the impact of the book from GP and patient perspectives. Mrs Heihei will focus on what it had meant to her and her whanau.

Meanwhile, the book is still selling well. Sales so far total about 2000, high for a non-fiction book in New Zealand. So far $6000 in royalties has been donated to St John with another $1000 to follow shortly.

The book's success has delayed work on Dr Reid's next project. The GP and Northland District Health Board member is planning to return to his original idea of photographing patients in their own homes.

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