New DHB chief can't wait to settle in

LOOKING FORWARD: Newly appointed Wairarapa District Health Board chief executive Adri Isbister.

The new chief executive for Wairarapa's District Health Board is eager to settle into the community.

Adri Isbister has moved from Hawke's Bay to fill the role, leaving behind her daughter, who is a nurse, her two sons, and five grandchildren, which will soon be six.

"I'm a real community person and if you look into my background you will see that I really am," she said.

Her husband, Mark, will finish his job at the end of the year and in January will move to their newly purchased rural Masterton home.

Mrs Isbister said she was looking forward to the challenges of the leadership role and living in a "beautiful region".

"Wairarapa is really close to my family as well, so there were personal reasons as well as career reasons [to take the job]."

In her previous position she was commuting to Auckland, from Hawke's Bay, every week and regularly flying all over the country.

"I'm really passionate about people and the health of people and how we can do that better as a community," she said. "That was part of the attraction to this role." Mrs Isbister had been "humbled" by a powhiri held for her on Monday, and said the people she had met so far in Wairarapa had been very welcoming. "The ones that I have met have got a real can-do attitude and I like that. You often find that in the smaller communities or more provincial towns."

She said the shared clinical services with the Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley DHBs would continue under her leadership.

"My whole philosophy is you do not throw the baby out with the bath water, and from what I gather there has been some huge value and gains made so we're going to build on those gains. It might look different.

"My style is working with people not to people, so we've got a bit of talking to do and I've got a lot of listening to do."

A mother at 15, Mrs Isbister has continually studied since and has gone on to have a string of jobs - in the corporate world and the health sector.

She worked as a qualified drug and alcohol counsellor for 12 years.

"That was my first job, so I have been in the sector all my life basically."

After starting up her own drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre she turned it into a charitable trust and gifted it to the community.

Mrs Isbister has worked for KPMG, a financial services company, and as marketing promotions manager at Les Mills World Of Fitness.

Her most recent role was CEO of Green Cross Medical, a corporate medical company that provides business support and management accounting for independent medical practices.

It had a total enrolled population of just under 300,000 people, she said.

Mrs Isbister is also the chairwoman of Health Hawke's Bay.

"We are going to be making sure that any transition is really good, so at this point I'm still there," she said.

One of the biggest challenges for Wairarapa DHB was to be sustainable, she said.

"The other challenge we have is the changing demographic - the older growing population.

"It's about the people we serve and how do we best create the models of care that they need in the community."

The aim was sustainability while maintaining quality.

"Our minister is challenging all the DHBs to think about how they are going to meet the needs into the future, so we've got some really good challenges ahead of us," Mrs Isbister said.