Martinborough medical centre a step closer

MARTINBOROUGH'S new medical centre is at the detailed planning stage, with the Ruamahanga Health trustees near to closing a deal to begin building in May.
Secretary/treasurer Terry Blacktop said yesterday the May date would depend on finance and the actual tendered price from the builder of choice, Shane Hartnell, who got the nod from three other tenders for the contract.
Mr Blacktop said the trustees had $380,000 in hand and that is well over half of the $600,000 target for the fundraisers, who for about the past 18 months have come up with events to "open pockets and let the money come".
The coffers have also been swelled by substantial private gifts, cash donations from several businesses, the South Wairarapa mayoral discretionary fund, South Wairarapa Rotary, the Martinborough Anglican community and Martinborough Youth Trust.
Mr Blacktop said the fundraising will continue in the next months and first up on the agenda is a golf tournament on Friday, March 30, with a monster auction in the Martinborough Town Hall next up on April 7.
During Queen's Birthday weekend in June, he said there would be an art auction again at the town hall with works gathered from both locally and nationally-known artists such as Jim Campbell, Sue Skerman, Jane Blakemore, Jane Evans and Philip Trustrem.
And to add a special fillip to the auction would also be works from sculptors, photographers, weavers and jewellers.
The new health centre, to be owned by the community through the Ruamahanga Health Trust and leased by the Martinborough doctors, will be built on land in Oxford Street and leased from the Martinborough Lions Club.
The concept of community ownership was taken on to attract and keep doctors after the departure of Peter Morrison in late 2003 left the township without a doctor and the dilapidated state of Jellicoe Street doctors rooms was generally acknowledged as not conducive to attracting a new doctor to the town.
However, Steve Philip arrived in March 2005 to work four days a week, but that cover has now extended to five days, along with help from two part-time doctors ? Daniel Crompton and Rebecca Greaves.
Dr Greaves, from England, has been with the practice for the past three months and her stint in Martinborough finishes at the end of this month.
Working conditions in the new centre will be spacious and modern. Architect Chris Kelly has come up with a design which incorporates room for possible future visits by a surgical bus or other mobile health facilities.
Three or four consulting rooms will be available, along with a surgical room, two rooms for the nurses, a large and comfortable waiting area, modern toilet and storage facilities, and space for other health professionals as the need arises.